Just in: Appeal Court affirms election of APC’s Nasarawa Gov. Sule

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has upheld the election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship Candidate, Abdullahi Sule, as the governor of Nasarawa State.in the March 11 poll.

The three-member panel of Justices, in their unanimous verdict, reversed the decision of the Nasarawa Election Tribunal, which sacked APC’s candidate governor Sule.

While delivering judgment on Thursday, the court struck out from it records the evidence and exhibits from PW5, 6,7,8,12,13,20, and 21 which the tribunal relied on.

Persecondnews recalls that the Nasarawa Election Petitions Tribunal led by Justice Ezekiel Ajayi had in a split judgment held that based on evidence from the various polling units before it, declared that Mr. David Ombugadu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had the majority of valid votes in the election.

In a judgment that lasted about two hours, and 53 minutes, the judge ordered the withdrawal of the Certificate of Return from Sule, while the same should be issued to Ombugadu as the validly elected Governor of Nasarawa.

Sule, who stood for re-election for a second term in office, secured 347, 209 votes in the contest with his closest challenger, David Ombugadu polling 283,016 votes while Abdullahi Maidoya, of the New Nigeria People’s Party scored 11,726 votes.

The election results were collated and announced in Lafia by the INEC’s Returning Officer in Nasarawa State, Prof. Ishaya Tanko.