Supreme court upholds Uba Sani’s election as Kaduna governor

Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has been affirmed as the duly elected governor of Kaduna by the supreme court.

A five-member panel of the apex court unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by Mohammed Ashiru of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for lacking merit.

Tijjani Abubakar, who read the lead judgment, held that the appellant “has nothing useful to ask this court”.

He further described the appeal as “frivolous and vexatious” and went ahead to dismiss it.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Sani as winner of the poll after he scored 730, 001 votes to defeat Ashiru, who polled 719, 196 votes in the March 18 governorship election.

Not satisfied with the outcome, the PDP and Ashiru approached the tribunal.

In September 2023, two of the three judges on the tribunal panel dismissed the petition on technical grounds.

Victor Oviawie, who led the panel, deemed the petition abandoned, noting that the PDP and its candidate did not file their pre-hearing application within the time prescribed by law.

In November 2023, the court of appeal affirmed Sani’s election.