Supreme Court upholds Yahaya’s election as Gombe Governor

The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State in a series of judgments it delivered on Friday in Abuja.

This is as the apex court, in a unanimous decision by a five-member panel, dismissed the appeal of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in Gombe State, Mr. Jibrin Barde, challenging the victory of Gov. Yahaya in the March 18 governorship election in the state.

The apex court, in its lead judgment delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, validated the concurrent verdict of the Court of Appeal and Gombe State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which held that the case the appellants raised against the election lacked merit.

Persecondnews recalls that the Court of Appeal in Abuja on November 23, 2023, aligned itself with the election tribunal ruling, which threw out the PDP’s contention that Governor Yahaya was not qualified to contest the election.

It equally dismissed the allegation by the appellants that the election was not only marred by irregularities but was also not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.

The court maintained that the petitioners failed to, by way of credible evidence, establish their allegations, which it described as “nebulous, lacking in particularity, baseless, and an academic exercise.”

While upholding the verdict of the tribunal, the appellate court held that the evidence before it proved that Governor Yahaya of the APC secured a majority of valid votes to win the election.

Persecondnews reports that Mr. Yahaya was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after he scored 342,821 votes to defeat Mr. Barde who scored 233,131 votes.