Appeal Court upholds Bala Mohammed’s election as Bauchi Governor
By Matthew Atungwu
The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Friday upheld the election of Bala Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the March 18 governorship election in Bauchi state.
The ruling of the Bauchi State Governorship Tribunal, which denied the appeal submitted by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its nominee for governor, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, a former Chief of Air Staff, was affirmed by the appellate court.
A three-person panel led by Justice Chidiebere Uwa delivered the decision, dismissing the appeal for lack of merit.
According to Uwa, the appellants were unable to provide evidence supporting their claims that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had violated the Electoral Act’s provisions.
The court noted that the appellants failed to bring INEC officers, supervisory officers, or presiding officers to testify, demonstrating why the aforementioned documents were not filled out.
Read Also: Bauchi Emirate dismisses six traditional title holders
In spite of the fact that several of the forms submitted as evidence had blank spots, the court determined that these were not significant enough to invalidate the election since the appellants had not demonstrated what should have been in those spaces.
“From the pleadings, the appellants failed to state the specific details which were to be in the alleged forms, that were not output on the forms.”
The tribunal conducted a thorough evaluation of the facts, the court said, and “the petitioners’ evidence was unreliable.”
“This appeal is hereby dismissed as the appellants failed to prove their case” Justice Uwa held.
