Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Friday affirmed the election of Governor Bala Mohammed as duly elected and returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as governor of Bauchi State.
A three man panel of justices of the Appellate Court unanimously dismissed the appeal filed by Sadique Abubakar, the Governorship flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state.
Court of Appeal said the appeal filed by
Sadique Abubakar, who also lost at the trial tribunal lacks merit .
The Appellate Court resolved the five issues raised in the appeal against the appellant . The court said that it was clear from the record of the tribunal that the appellant dumped the document tendered during the hearing on the tribunal without linking them to any specific issue in contention in his petition. Tribunal was right not to have accorded any probative value on dumped document, it said.
The Appeal Court further held that the appellant complaint of alterations of elections results, cancellation and mutilation of results in polling Units were criminal nature that ought to have been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
It said that failure to establish evidence of cancellation and mutilation was fatal to the appellant petition.
Bauchi state governor Bala Mohammed and the People Democratic Party (PDP) polled 525,280 valid votes and defeated Sadique Abubakar, former chief of air staff, who secured 432,272 votes.
“We found no reason whatsoever to revalidate Bauchi State Gov’ship election held on March 18, 2023.” the Appellate Court held.
“The judgement of Bauchi State Governorships Election Petitions Tribunal delivered on September 20,2023 is hereby affirmed. This appeal lack merit and is hereby dismissed,” Justice Chidiebere Nwaoma Uwa who delivered the lead judgement held.