The Appeal Court in Abuja has overturned the tribunal’s decision that deemed the governorship election in Kaduna State inconclusive. Additionally, the court affirmed Uba Sani’s victory of the All Progressives Congress as the state governor.
Sani secured 730,001 votes, surpassing his closest contender, Isah Ashiru of the Peoples Democratic Party, who amassed 719,196 votes.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the election’s outcome, Ashiru contended that Sani didn’t acquire the majority of lawful votes. He also argued that the margin of lead was less than the total number of individuals who collected their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) in the affected polling units.
Initially, the state governorship election petitions tribunal, led by Victor Oviawie, declared the election inconclusive in a split judgment. The tribunal directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a supplementary election within 90 days in seven wards, four local governments, and 24 polling units encompassing 16,300 registered voters.
Seeking remedy, Ashiru appealed to the court to annul the tribunal’s decision. In its ruling on Friday, the court highlighted discrepancies in the evidence used by the tribunal to declare the election inconclusive.