Nasarawa tribunal reserves judgment on petition against Gov. Sule’s victory

Justice Ezekiel Ajayi, the chairman of the three-man panel, reserved the judgment after counsels to the petitioner and respondents adopted their final written addresses.

News Agency of Nigeria • September 14, 2023

Nasarawa Gov Abdullahi Sule [Photo Credit: The Nigeria Xpress]

The Governorship Elections Petition Tribunal in Lafia, Nasarawa State, has reserved judgment on the petition challenging the outcome of the state’s 2023 governorship poll.

David Ombugadu, the governorship candidate of the PDP, is challenging the declaration of Governor Abdullahi Sule of the APC as the poll’s winner.

The sitting on Thursday was slated for the adoption of final written addresses by counsels to the petitioner and the first, second and third respondents.

Justice Ezekiel Ajayi, the chairman of the three-man panel, reserved the judgment after counsels to the petitioner and respondents adopted their final written addresses.

The chairman, therefore, said the tribunal would communicate to the parties through their counsels on the day of judgment.

Earlier, Kanu Agabi (SAN), lead counsel to the petitioner, told the tribunal that he had adopted all the arguments in his written address.

The petitioner’s counsel urged the tribunal to annul the Nasarawa State governorship election for noncompliance with the electoral act and declare the PDP candidate as the real election winner.

Mr Agabi also explained that there was no relationship between the votes in the IREV and the final result that was declared.

The petitioner’s counsel argued that the PDP candidate had the highest number of votes cast at the election, based on the records in the IREV and the information of the BVAS machines used at various polling units.

On their parts, Isiaka Dikko (SAN), Hassan Liman (SAN) and Wole Olanikpekun (SAN), the counsels to the INEC, APC, and Mr Sule adopted their final written addresses and called on the tribunal to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit.

Counsel to APC also argued that the petitioner had dumped BVAS machines and IREV records at the tribunal without showing what was contained in the records.

He said the petitioner only presented the records in the IREV and BVAS machines to the tribunal without displaying them for everyone to see.

He, therefore, said the petitioner had failed to prove anything and urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition.

(NAN)

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