The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, has affirmed the victory of Senator Sunday Marshall Katung of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the rightful winner of the Kaduna South senatorial election.
The three-member panel of Justices led by Justice Moore A. Adumein, in a unanimous decision, upheld the judgement of the National/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Kaduna, which had dismissed the petition of the Labour Party candidate, Michael Ayuba Auta, for lacking merit.
Justice Adumein said: “Even a casual reading of the judgement reveals that the Tribunal was very articulate and thorough in its Judgment.
“The Tribunal was right when it held that Auta failed to prove that the election was invalid because of corrupt practices”.
The appellate court held that Auta of the Labour Party failed to prove the criminal allegation of allocation of unlawful votes to the winner of the February 25 election.
While dismissing the appeal, the court also awarded N600,000 cost against Auta in favour of Senator Katung, Independent National Electoral Commission and PDP.
