The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Wednesday, deferred judgment in the appeal brought by Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, challenging the tribunal’s decision that declared David Ombugadu, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, as the winner of the state governorship election.
The tribunal, led by Justice Ezekiel Ajayi, had, in a divided decision, determined that Ombugadu secured the majority of valid votes based on evidence from various polling units.
Governor Sule contested this decision and appealed to the Court of Appeal to overturn it. During the hearing on Wednesday, Wole Olanipekun SAN, representing the governor, argued that the tribunal incorrectly applied the law in its judgment.
He asserted that the tribunal erroneously relied on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machine as evidence without proper demonstration by the petitioners or the court.
Olanipekun contended that the tribunal failed to find evidence of overvoting in the Independent National Electoral Commission Form EC8AS submitted by the petitioners but still annulled his client’s election.
On the other hand, Kanu Agabi SAN, the lawyer for the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, countered Olanipekun’s arguments, stating that the tribunal properly analyzed the BVAS contrary to Olanipekun’s claims.
He emphasized that once a court has scrutinized exhibits before it, its judgment cannot be considered unfair.
Agabi urged the court to dismiss the appeal, citing time constraints that prevented him from presenting additional arguments. The Court of Appeal, however, opted to reserve judgment on the case.
