Supreme Court Upholds Election Of Bauchi, Plateau Govs

The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Simon Lalong as the governor of Plateau State.

The court gave the judgement on Monday in Abuja, 10 months after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returned Governor Lalong as the winner of the March 9 poll.

Jeremiah Useni of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had filed an appeal at the apex court to challenge the victory of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.

His appeal was, however, struck out in a unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court delivered by Justice Adamu Galinje.

The court held that the appellant failed to prove the allegation of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

It held that the concurrent findings of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal were correct.

The apex court also said the appellant failed to show how the various names of Simon Lalong enhanced his chances at the March 9 election.

The Supreme Court on Monday also affirmed the election of Senator Bala Mohammed as the governor of Bauchi State.

The apex court affirmed Governor Mohammed’s election on Monday in Abuja while delivering judgement in the appeal filed by a former governor of the state, Mohammed Abubakar.

Former Governor Abubakar of the All Progressives Congress (APC) had filed the appeal to challenge the victory of Governor Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 9 poll.

But the apex court, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Mohammed Datijo, dismissed the APC candidate’s appeal for lacking in merit.

The court upheld the concurrent findings of the lower court affirming the election of Senator Mohammed as the duly elected governor of Bauchi State.

It held that the witness statement of the appellant was incompetent and of no value and in the face of the law, it amounted to no evidence at all.

According to Justice Datijo, the court took the decision on the ground that the witness’ deposition was made in Hausa but only adopted the English translation without attaching the original statement deposed to in Hausa.

He noted that the appellant alleged infractions in 336 polling units and yet, he failed to call witnesses in 307 of the said polling units.

The judge added that some of the witnesses called by the appellant admitted that they did not participate in the election.

He, therefore, held that the appellant has failed to prove the allegation of infractions and the court found no merit in the appeal.