Supreme Court returns Aliyu, Fubara as Sokoto, Rivers governors

THE Supreme Court has affirmed Ahmed Aliyu and Siminalayi Fubara as Sokoto and Rivers governors. In returning Aliyu as winner of the March 18, 2023 gubernatorial contest in Sokoto State, the five- member panel of judges, led by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, dismissed the appeal filed by Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) and its governorship candidate, Saidu Umar, for want of merit.

In the case of Rivers State, the judges, yesterday, in a unanimous decision by a five- member panel, headed by Justice Kudirat Kekere

Ekun, dismissed as lacking in merit, an appeal the candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC), Tonye Cole, filed to challenge outcome of the March 18 governorship election.

In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, the apex court said it found no reason to dislodge the concurrent verdicts of the Court of Appeal and Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which upheld Fubara’s victory at the poll. The court held that Cole did not establish that the election was not conducted in compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

Recall that the APC pulled out of the case while being heard by the tribunal.

Despite its position not to challenge Fubara’s declaration as winner of the contest by the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC), Cole vowed to prosecute his petition to a logical conclusion.

INEC had returned Fubara of the PDP with 302,614 votes to defeat his closest rival, Cole, of the APC, who polled 95,274 ballots.

Not satisfied with the outcome, Cole approached the tribunal to ventilate. The appellant, among other things, alleged that the poll was marred by corrupt practices, insisting that it was not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral

Act, 2022.

The petitioner also claimed that Fubara did not validly resign from his previous position as required by law before vying for the new office.