JUST IN: APPEAL COURT AFFIRMS UBS SANI AS GOVERNOR OF KADUNA

November 24, 2023November 24, 2023

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The election of Uba Sani, the governor of Kaduna State, by the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been upheld by the Court of Appeal in Abuja.

A three-member panel of the appellate court delivered the ruling on Friday, ruling that the tribunal had erred in relying on inadmissible evidence to mandate the holding of supplemental polls in 22 polling units across four local government areas (LGAs) in cases where the initial exercise was deemed inconclusive.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) called a key witness during the tribunal hearing, but the court ruled that his testimony was hearsay because he was not there when the alleged malpractices occurred.

The appellate court determined that the claims made by the aforementioned witness regarding vote tampering, ballot box stuffing, and the destruction of confidential election documents originated from hearsay.

The PDP and Isa Ashiru had abandoned their petition because they had neglected to apply for the issuance of a pre-hearing information sheet following the close of pleadings, as mandated by paragraph 18(1) of the first schedule to the Electoral Act 2022. Accordingly, the court held that the tribunal was correct to dismiss the petition.