Supreme Court upholds APC’s Ahmed Aliyu’s election as Sokoto governor

The Supreme Court, on Thursday, upheld the election of Mr. Ahmed Aliyu as the governor of Sokoto State.

The apex court, in its lead judgment by Justice Tijani Abubakar, validated the verdicts of the election tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which held that the case by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Mr. Saidu Umar, against the election of Mr. Aliyu, lacked merit.

Persecondnews reports that the appellant had challenged the election of Governor Aliyu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 18 governorship election in the state.

Mr. Umar and the PDP had asked the Supreme Court to set aside the concurrent judgments of the Court of Appeal of the tribunal.

He cited malpractices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act as grounds to nullify the election of Governor Aliyu.

The PDP governorship candidate asked the apex court to declare him the authentic winner of the election, or, in the alternative, declare the election inconclusive and order a re-run in about 138 polling units.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mr. Aliyu, who polled 453,661 votes, winner of the March 18 governorship election in Sokoto State, after he defeated his closest rival, Mr. Umar, who had 404,632 votes.