2nd October, 2023
The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal has nullified the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa state and declared PDP’s David Ombugadu as the winner.
Delivering the over four-hour split judgment virtually, the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ezekiel Ajayi declared Emmanuel Ombugadu of the PDP as the lawfully elected governor of Nasarawa State.
Justice Chiemelie Onaga, member of the panel agreed with the judgement read by the panel chairman.
The chairman declared that Ombugadu provided the results of the various polling units and forms EC 8A and proved to the tribunal that the results were manipulated in favour of the APC.
He said that based on the proof from the various polling units before the tribunal, Ombugadu had the majority of valid votes at the election.
He ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Sule and issue a new one to Ombugadu.
The only dissenting judgment was delivered by Justice Ibrahim Mashi, who dismissed the petition filed by the PDP candidate for lacking in merit.
He said the petitioner failed to prove his case and upheld INEC’s declaration of Sule as winner.
Reacting to the tribunal’s decision, Ombugadu’s counsel, Mr Johnson Usman (SAN), lauded it as detailed.
The counsel said the tribunal had proved that the court is the last hope of the common man by affirming the decision of the majority of the people of the state at the poll.
Meanwhile, Governor Sule said he will appeal the judgment in the appeal court.
He said that the judgment was a temporary setback that he would learn from in order to restrategise and come out stronger.
“I still remain the governor till Supreme Court decides otherwise because the law allows me to appeal and we will do that to reclaim our mandate,” Sule said.
The governor called on his supporters to remain calm and not take laws into their hands by engaging in street protests.
He cautioned the youths and supporters of APC against responding to the opposition, especially on social media.