Tribunal Affirms Lawal’s Election As Zamfara State Governor

(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Zamfara State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Sokoto has affirmed the election of Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of the state.

The tribunal dismissed the petition of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, Bello Matawalle, challenging the outcome of the March 18 governorship election for lacking in merit.

It also awarded a N500,000 fine to the petitioner, Matawalle.

The chairman of the three-man panel, Justice Cordelia Ogadi, who read the judgment, said 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 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, were unanimous in their judgment.

Solomon Akunna (SAN), the lead counsel to the first respondent, Governor Lawal, described the judgment as well-considered, adding 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.