Appeal Court Affirms Election Of Gombe Governor, Yahaya Inuwa

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday affirmed the victory of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya in the March 18 governorship election in Gombe State.

The appellate court upheld the ruling of the Gombe State Governorship Election Tribunal which dismissed the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) appeal contesting the re-election of Governor Yahaya of the All-Progressives Congress.

Delivering judgement on Thursday, the Court agreed with the Tribunal that the PDP’s case lacked merit.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had on March 18 announced Governor Yahaya of the APC winner of the Governorship Election with 342,821 votes.

Muhammad Jibrin Barde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was said to have scored 233,131.

Barde had approached the Tribunal with the insistence that the governor’s election was not conducted in accordance with the Electoral Act’s provisions.

His lawyers contended that the PDP candidate received the majority of valid votes cast in the election, claiming that ballot box stuffing and repeated thumb printing occurred in nine local government areas of the state to benefit Governor Yahaya.

Nevertheless, the PDP’s case was rejected by the tribunal’s three-member panel due to its lack of merit.

The PDP (INEC forms) evidence and the witness testimony were also removed by the tribunal due to their lack of foundation.