Supreme Court reverses sack of Zamfara Governor Dauda Lawal

The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the victory of Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State in the March 18 governorship election.

The five-member panel of justices in a judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim said the allegation of over-voting upon which the Court of Appeal nullified the victory of Lawal was not proven.

The court described the judgment of the appellate court as “perverse”, and ruled in favour of the appeal filed by Lawal and his party.

“The allegation of over-voting failed because INEC did not provide the voter register, polling unit officer report, and testimony of people who were present at the polling unit,” the judge says.

The Court further ruled that the petitioner, Bello Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress did not provide enough evidence to prove his case

“BVAS machines on their own cannot establish electoral malpractices.

“Sufficient evidence was not adduced by the petitioner.

“This court is of the view that the tribunal was right. The judgement of the Court of Appeal was perverse, because the petitioner failed woefully to prove his allegations,” the judge declared. sn

“The decision of the Court of Appeal has no evidential foundation.

“The judgement of the Court of Appeal delivered in November is set aside. The order setting aside the appellant’s election is set aside. And the election of the Appellant is upheld,” Justice Agim said.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Lawal as the winner of the Zamfara governorship election with 377,726 votes in March 2023.

Bello Matawalle who polled 311,976 votes, challenged the outcome of the poll with allegations that INEC subverted his victory at the poll by failing to include the results of some wards.

In its judgment delivered on September 2023, the tribunal held that the petition was devoid of merit and a N500,000 fine was awarded against the petitioners.

However, the court of appeal sitting in Abuja in a judgment delivered about two months later declared the Zamfara governorship election inconclusive.

The three-member panel of the appellate court unanimously annulled the victory of Lawal and ordered INEC to hold a fresh election in three LGAs.

The local governments are Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukyun.

*Updated