16th November, 2023
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has nullified the March 18 governorship election won by Dauda Lawal and the Peoples Democratic Party.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Lawal winner of the election.
But Bello Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenged the victory of Lawal.
The tribunal had upheld Lawal’s election, but Matawalle, now Minister of State for Defence, proceeded to the Appeal Court.
On Thursday, a three-member panel of justices annulled the victory of Lawal and ordered a rerun of the election in three local government areas.
The affected LGAs are Maradun, Birnin Magaji and Bukuyun.
The Appeal court held that the Zamfara State Election Petitions Tribunal did not consider the evidence provided by the appellants – All Progressives Congress (APC) and Matawalle.
The judges also ruled that it was wrong for INEC to rely solely on information it obtained from its IReV portal, to collate the final result of the governorship election.