Appeal court dismisses PDP’s Umar case, affirms Ahmad Aliyu as Sokoto governor

The court of appeal in Abuja has affirmed the election of Ahmad Aliyu as governor of Sokoto state.

A three-member panel of the appellate court dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (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.

Aliyu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was declared the winner of the governorship election with 453,661 votes to defeat Umar who secured 404,632 votes.

But Umar alleged that the governor and his deputy Idris Gobir,  forged the certificates they presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to qualify for the election.

The petitioners also alleged electoral fraud during the poll.

The tribunal in its judgment said the petitioners were unable to prove the six grounds contained in their petition.

The court added that petitioners were unable to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.

The court noted that  70 percent of the exhibits presented were out of context because they relate to state assembly elections conducted on the same date.

While upholding the decision of the tribunal on Monday, the appellate court held that most of the evidence that the petitioners produced in support of their case, were legally inadmissible.