Tambuwal loses round one, tribunal declares APC challenge valid

The Sokoto State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday concluded that the petition filed by Aliyu challenging the declaration of Tambuwal as the winner of the 23 March governorship election was valid and proper in law.

The tribunal in its ruling on the objections raised against the petition by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Governor Tambuwal urging it to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit, unanimously dismissed the objections and held that the petition was properly filed.

The tribunal equally ruled that the petitioners duly paid the filing fees, Channels TV reported from the court.

It held that against the argument of the respondents that the petition disclosed substantial cause of action and was properly signed by the petitioners. It further held that the non-joinder of the running mate to the petitioners is not enough to render the petition incompetent.

On the whole, the Justice Abbas Bawale led tribunal held that the application by the respondent lacked merit and constituted waste of judicial time.

The tribunal before going on break also ruled that Tambuwal has no powers to challenge the academic qualifications of Aliyu.

Mr Aliyu is seeking to upturn at the tribunal the victory of Tambuwal in the 2019 Governorship election.

The main governorship election which held on March 9 was declared inconclusive following cancellation of 75, 403 votes which were higher than the 3, 413 votes margin between the leading candidates.

The re-run was conducted on March 23, and Tambuwal won with a slim margin of 342 votes.

Unsatisfied with the outcome, Aliyu approached the tribunal challenging the return of Tambuwal as the governor-elect, on the grounds that the election was marred with irregularities.