The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Zamfara State has upheld the election victory of Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of the state.
The tribunal dismissed the petition of Bello Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Matawalle is challenging the outcome of the March 18 governorship election for lacking in merit.
The Tribuna, after striking out Matawalle’s case, also awarded a N500,000 fine to the petitioner.
The chairman of the three-man panel, Justice Cordelia Ogadi, who read the judgment, said that the petitioner did not prove his allegation of wrongful collation of elections results, exclusion of results for the Maradun Local Government Area (LGA) and the election not being conducted in some wards in the state.
The tribunal in its over four-hour judgment, also said that the petitioner failed to prove his claim of non-compliance by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) with the Electoral Act and corrupt way of conducting the election.
All three justices making up the panel, Justice Cordelia Ogadi, Justice Bello Hassan, and Justice Aliyu Gegele unanimous in their judgment.
Solomon Akunna (SAN), the lead counsel to the first respondent, Governor Lawal, described the judgment as well-considered, saying that the reasoning was perfect and the consideration of law could not be impeached.
Also, the lead counsel to INEC, Ishaka Dikko, noted that the Commission did not expect anything short of this judgment delivered by the tribunal, saying that it conducted credible polls.
The lead counsel to the petitioner, Usman Sure (SAN), said their client would give them further instruction on appealing the tribunal’s verdict as he feels they were robbed by the election results.
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