Supreme Court Dismisses Umar’s Appeal, Affirms Aliyu As Sokoto Governor

The Supreme Court, on Thursday, affirmed the election of Ahmed Aliyu as the governor of Sokoto State, dismissing the appeal of Saidu Umar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). 

The judgement of the apex court panel led by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun was delivered by Justice Tijani Abubakar.

The appellant had challenged the election of Governor Ahmed Aliyu of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Umar and the PDP had asked the Supreme Court to set aside the concurrent judgements of the Court of Appeal of the Tribunal.

He cited malpractices, non-compliance with the Electoral Act as grounds to nullify the election of Aliyu.

He asked the court to declare him as the authentic winner of the election, or in the alternative, declare the election as inconclusive and order a re-run in about 138 polling units.

Last year, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Aliyu, the governorship candidate of the APC as the winner of the March 18 governorship election.

Aliyu polled a total of 453,661 votes to defeat his closest rival and PDP candidate, who polled 404,632 votes.

Dissatisfied with the outcome, Umar approached the Sokoto Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal and dismissed Umar’s petition against Governor Aliyu and his deputy, Idris Gobir.

In a unanimous judgement on September 30, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Haruna Mshelia, dismissed Umar’s petition, saying the petitioners failed to prove their case beyond reasonable doubt.

Still not satisfied with the ruling, the PDP candidate filed an appeal before the appellate court in Abuja but still lost.

Last November, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed the election of Ahmad Aliyu as governor of Sokoto State.

The three-member panel of the appellate court dismissed the appeal filed by the PDP and its governorship candidate, Saidu Umar, challenging Aliyu’s victory in the poll.

The panel unanimously held that it found no reason to disturb the verdict of the tribunal that upheld the governor’s victory.