Appeal Court Voids Tribunal Judgment, Affirms Abdullahi Sule As Nasarawa Governor

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed the election of Abdullahi Sule as the Governor of Nasarawa State.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, voided the verdict of the Nasarawa state governorship election petition tribunal, which sacked Sule, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Delivering judgement, the three-member panel, led by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam, held that the tribunal erred in law in concluding that Governor Sule did not win majority of the votes cast in the election.

The Court further held that the governor was denied a fair hearing.

Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Sule as winner of the election with 347,209 votes.
David Ombugadu, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), polled second with 283,016 votes.

However, the PDP candidate had expressed dissatisfaction with the outcome of the governorship election, citing alleged irregularities.

On October 2, the election petition tribunal in Lafia nullified Sule’s victory and declared Ombugadu as the winner of the election.