The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Dauda Lawal of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, as the winner of the Zamfara State 2023 governorship poll.
The five-member panel of justices in a judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, set aside the judgment of the Court of appeal that declared the election inconclusive.
Recall that the Zamfara State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal had dismissed the petition filed against Lawal and the PDP by the All Progressive Congress, APC, and its governorship candidate, Bello Matawalle in the February election.
The Chairperson of the Tribunal, Justice Cordelia Ogadi who led two other members dismissed the petition for lack of merit and inability of the petitioners to prove their case as required by law.
The Tribunal held that the petitioners also failed to prove allegation of irregularities during the polls and awarded N500, 000 cost to be paid by the petitioners to each of the three respondents.
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Matawalle, the immediate past governor of the State and his party, APC had filed the petition against Lawal contending that the governorship election was marred with irregularities and Lawal did not score majority of lawful votes.
However delivering the lead judgment, Justice Ogadi held that the petitioners were unable to prove allegations of over voting and other malpractices, stressing that the burden of proof was solely on the petitioners.
She stated that the petitioners were also unable to prove allegations of substantial non-compliance of the poll to the provisions of the electoral act that would affect the overall outcome of its result.
