Appeal court affirms election of PDP’s Balami as Borno rep

The Abuja court of appeal has affirmed the election of Midala Balami as member of the house of representatives for Askira-Uba/Hawul federal constituency in Borno state.

Balami had polled 28,820 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Tarfaya Asarya, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 25,383 votes.

Asarya challenged the result at the tribunal, alleging that Balami was not a valid candidate in the PDP.

He alleged that the PDP primary election which produced Balami as its candidate, was outside the 14-day window ordered by the supreme court.

The petitioners also submitted that the PDP candidate did not win the election by the majority of lawful votes cast.

However, on August 25, a three-member panel of the tribunal dismissed the petition.

The tribunal held that it lacked the jurisdiction to entertain an issue bordering on the nomination of a candidate by a political party.

The tribunal further held that the case of the petitioners contained pre-election issues that could only be addressed at the federal high court.

Not satisfied with the tribunal’s decision, Asarya took his grievances to the court of appeal.

Delivering judgment on Friday, the panel of the appellate court, led by Chioma Nwosu-Iheme, held that under section 285(1) of the 1999 constitution, the tribunal had jurisdiction only to determine the validity of an election.

She held that the scope of the tribunal’s jurisdiction cannot be expanded to include the determination of the validity or conduct of primary election or nomination of candidates by political parties.

The appeal court ruled that although the APC and its candidate’s margin of lead claim was predicated on voter registration, they neglected to specify the number of permanent voter cards (PVC) collected in the affected polling units.

The court further held that the Electoral Act 2022 introduced a new electoral regime that allows the use of collected PVCs and the number of accredited voters to establish the voting population of every polling unit.

Consequently, it resolved the case against the appellants and dismissed the appeal.