The Supreme Court has affirmed Sheriff Oborevwori (Delta), Abdullahi Sule (Nasarawa), Uba Sani (Kaduna), Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and Nasir Idris (Kebbi) as the duly-elected governors of their respective states.
In the lead judgment regarding Delta State read by Justice John Okoro on Friday, the apex Court held that the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate and former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ovie Omo-Agege, failed to discharge the burden of proof with respect to allegations of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
Similarly, all two appeals from the SDP and Labour Party against the outcome of the governorship election in Delta State were dismissed.
In another development, the apex Court on Friday affirmed the election of Gov. Uba Sani of Kaduna State.
The PDP and Ashiru had challenged the outcome of the governorship election held in the state on March 18.
They alleged that Uba was not duly elected by a majority of valid votes cast in the election, adding that the election was invalid by reason of corrupt practices and non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
They further alleged that some polling unit results were wrongfully cancelled, insisting that there were inconsistencies in accreditation records from INEC.
The Court also on Friday affirmed Dapo Abiodun as duly elected governor of Ogun State in the March 2023 governorship elections.
Justice Tijjani Abubakar who delivered the judgment dismissed the appeals against Abiodun.
The appeal was filled by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and it’s candidate in the March 18, governorship election, Ladi Adebutu.
PDP and Adebutu want the Supreme Court to set aside and dismiss the judgement of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, which had on November 23, affirmed the decision of the Tribunal in upholding Adiodun’s victory.
Recall that two Judges of the court below had dismissed the appeal filed by Adebutu for lacking in merit, while Justice Jane Esienanwan Inyang saw merit in the petition and thereby ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return presented to Abiodun and conduct another election in 99 polling units where elections were disrupted.
Similarly, the apex court affirmed the election of Gov. Nasir Idris as duly-elected Governor of Kebbi State.
Delivering judgment, Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, dismissed the appeal by the PDP against the governor for lacking in merit.
The Court had same Friday affirmed Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as duly-elected governor of Nasarawa State.
In the judgement on Friday, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, who read the lead judgement, held that the verdict of the court of appeal, which affirmed Sule’s election, was “comprehensive and well considered”.
Consequently, all five-member panel of the apex court dismissed the appeals filed by David Ombugadu, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last elections.
Security was beefed up in Lafia and other major towns in Nasarawa State even before the Supreme Court delivered the judgment on the governorship tussle between Gov. Sule and Ombugadu.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Correspondents monitoring situations on Friday, reports that personnel of Nigeria Police, Nigeria Army, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps were seen stationed in strategic locations and around public infrastructures in Lafia.
Some of the locations include the Lafia City gate, Lafia Township Stadium junction, Jos/Shendam Road junction leading to the Government House among others.
In Akwanga, joint security patrol teams were seen moving round the city in order to forestall the breakdown of law and order during and after the Supreme Court judgment.
Sule has urged the aggrieved protesters to accept the ruling of the Supreme Court.
He later met with President Bola Tinubu moments after the Supreme Court’s verdict and acknowledged the dissenting views of those unhappy with the verdict while praising the justice system in ensuring “fairness without undue interference”.
