January 12, (THEWILL) – The Supreme, on Friday, upheld the victory of Governor Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 18th gubernatorial election in Zamfara State.
The apex court, in its judgment, set aside the ruling of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which declared the March 18th gubernatorial election in Zamfara State as inconclusive.
THEWILL had in November reported that a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, led by Justice Oyebisi Folayemi, and supported by Justice Cordelia Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo and Justice Sybil Nwaka Gbagi, nullified the election of Governor Dauda Lawal and declared the governorship election that produced him “inconclusive”.
Justice Nwaka had, in the lead judgment, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election in three Local Government Areas, including Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukkuyum, where elections had not been held previously or where results from various polling units were not counted.
The court had berated INEC for relying on information it obtained from its Result Viewing (IReV) portal to collate the final result of the governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Dauda Lawal the winner of the Zamfara governorship election after he secured 377,726 votes to beat Bello Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who scored 311,976 votes.
Earlier, the Zamfara State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, on September 18, upheld Lawal’s election.
In its judgment on Friday, the apex court set aside the decision of the Court of Appeal Abuja, which had declared the Governorship Election as inconclusive and ordered a re-run in three local government areas of the State.
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