The Supreme Court on Friday, January 19, 2024, delivered judgments on appeals challenging the outcome of governorship elections in Gombe, Kebbi, Ogun, Kaduna, Nasarawa, and Delta states.
The apex court had last week decided the fate of 10 state governors.
The governors are Hyacinth Alia of Benue; Alex Otti of Abia, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara; Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos, and Bala Mohammed of Bauchi.
Others are Cross River governor, Bassey Otu; Ebonyi State Governor, Francis Nwifuru; Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuff; Akwa Ibom Governor, Umo Eno, and Plateau State governor, Caleb Mutfwang.
In all the decided cases, no governor was sacked from office.
In Ogun, the apex court affirmed the election of the governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun.
The appellants, Ladi Adebutu and the Peoples Democratic Party prayed to the apex court to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct fresh elections in the 99 polling units where elections were allegedly cancelled.
The Appeal Court, Lagos Division, had in a split decision on November 24, 2023, affirmed Abiodun’s re-election.
The majority judgment delivered by Justice Joseph Ikyegh dismissed the appeal filed by the PDP and its governorship candidate.
Reading the lead judgement on Friday, Justice Tijani Abubakar dismissed the appeal.
Also, the Supreme Court affirmed the election of the Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori.
The court dismissed the appeals by the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Ovie Omo-Agege, and the Labour Party and its candidate, Ken Pella, against the governor
In the Omo-Agege appeal, the five-member panel led by Justice John Okoro said the appeal lacked merit and the appellant was unable to discharge the burden of proof placed on him.
Pella’s appeal was also dismissed for lack of merit.
The court of appeal in Lagos had affirmed the election of Oborevwori as the governor of Delta State, dismissing the appeals by the governorship candidates and their parties
Oborevwori polled 360,234 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Omo-Agege of the APC who scored 240,229.
Pela of the LP came third with 48,027 votes, while Great Ogboru of the All Progressives Grand Alliance came fourth with 11,021 votes.
Also, the apex court affirmed the election of the Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule.
The tribunal had sacked the governor and declared David Ombugadu, candidate of the PDP as the winner of the March 18, 2023 election.
But the appeal court reinstated Sule and held that the tribunal wrongly relied on the evidence of eight of the PDP witnesses, whose statements on oath were not front-loaded alongside the petition.
Reading the lead judgment, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun held that the appeal lacks merit.
On Gombe election, the Supreme Court upheld the judgments of the lower courts affirming the election of Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya
Jibrin Barde of the PDP challenged the outcome of the election.
The Court of Appeal in Abuja had in November 2023 affirmed the election of Yahaya as governor of Gombe.
The appellate court had held that the petitioner failed to prove their allegations of non-qualification, perjury, and certificate forgery raised in its petition.
The five-member panel led by Justice Kekere-Ekun Kudirat affirmed the concurrent judgments of the lower courts on the matter.
She said she found nothing wrong with the judgment to warrant interference from the apex court.
Also, the apex court has affirmed the election of the governor of Kebbi State, Nasir Idris.
INEC had declared the state election inconclusive following cancellation and overvoting in some Local Government Areas.
The electoral commission on April 15 conducted a supplementary election with, Idris, candidate of the APC, who scored 409,225 votes to beat Aminu Bande of the PDP who polled 360,940 votes.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the election, Bande approached the tribunal.
He alleged that there was over-voting in some polling units and that Idris was not qualified to contest the election.
The tribunal deducted 1,735 votes from APC while over 900 votes were also subtracted from PDP’s results. The deduction, however, had no effect on the election of Idris.
Displeased with the judgment, Bande approached the court of appeal, but the appellate court affirmed the governor’s election. Bande took the appeal further to the apex court.
Delivering the judgement, the court held that the appeal lacked merit and was subsequently dismissed.
Also, other appeals in the matter were equally dismissed
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also affirmed the election of the election of Uba Sani as Kaduna State governor.
The court dismissed the appeal by the PDP, and its governorship candidate, Mohammed Ashiru Isa.
The court of appeal in Abuja had on November 24, 2023, in a unanimous judgment affirmed the election of Uba Sani as Kaduna State governor.
The PDP and Ashiru 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 because of corrupt practices and non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
Reading the lead judgment, Justice Tijani Abubakar held that the appellant had nothing useful to ask this court.
“The appeal is vexatious, frivolous, and lacks merit,” the justice said.
He upheld the judgement of the lower courts affirming the election of the governor.
