The Supreme Court has upheld the re-election of All-Progressive’s Congress (APC) Inuwa Yahaya as the governor of Gombe state.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Jibrin Barde’s appeal was deemed without merit by a five-member panel of the court chaired by Kudirat Kekere-Ekun.
Kekere-Ekun found that there was insufficient evidence to support the concurrent findings’ being put aside, therefore affirming the appeals court’s decision upholding Yahaya’s triumph.
With 342,821 votes to beat his nearest opponent, Barde, who had 233,131 votes, Yahaya was proclaimed the victor of the March 18 gubernatorial race.
In a petition, the PDP and its candidate argued that Yahaya, who ran on the platform of the All-Progressives Congress (APC), was not legitimately re-elected with a majority of the votes.
The opposition party claimed that in nine of the state’s eleven LGAs, Yahaya’s supporters had engaged in thumbprinting and ballot box stuffing.
Barde and the party filed a lawsuit, which was dismissed by the Gombe State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
Dissatisfied with the tribunal’s decision, Barde and PDP petitioned the appellate court.
In addition, the PDP gubernatorial candidate’s petition was denied by the appeal court.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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