Appeal court upholds El-Rufai’s election, decides Nasarawa gov’s fate tomorrow
The Kaduna Division of the Court of Appeal, yesterday, upheld the election of Malam Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai as the elected Governor of Kaduna State in the March 9 governorship election.
This is just as judgement on the appeal filed against the victory of Nasarawa State governor, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, has been fixed for tomorrow.
In Kaduna, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Isah Ashiru, had filed an appeal before the court, challenging the decision of the tribunal that upheld the victory of ElRufai at the poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had earlier declared El-Rufai winner of the governorship election.
The five-man panel of appellate court judges - Justices U.I. Anyanwu, H.A.O. Abiru, T.Y. Hassan, B.M. Ugo and B.B. Aliyu - unanimously affirmed the decision of the lower tribunal and declared El-Rufai as the duly elected governor of the state.
Speaking to newsmen shortly after the judgement, El-Rufai’s counsel, A.U. Mustapha SAN, said the unanimous judgement was sound as all issues raised in the appeal were exhaustively examined.
But counsel to the appellants (PDP and Ashiru), Mutum L.A. Mutum, said they have a grouse with the judgement, so they will study it before deciding the next line of action.
Meanwhile the Court of Appeal, Makurdi Division, will decide on the appeal against Governor Sule, tomorrow. The appeal was filed by David Emmanuel Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the judgement by the tribunal in Lafia which upheld the election of Sule as governor.
It could be recalled that the governorship election petition tribunal affirmed the victory of Governor Sule of APC in the March 9 general election.