The Kaduna State Elections Petitions Tribunal has affirmed the election of Senator Lawal Adamu-Usman of the Peoples Democratic Party as the representative of Kaduna Central Senatorial District.
The ruling, on Saturday, followed the petition filed by the All Progressive Congress candidate, Abdullahi Muhammad-Sani.
The petition challenged the election of the PDP senator on four grounds.
The grounds were on school certificate forgery, over voting, non compliance and the issue of nomination and sponsorship of the first respondent by the PDP.
The three-member panel, led by Justice H. H. Kereng, dismissed all the grounds presented by the petitioners.
Kereng ruled: “The elections and return of the first respondent is hereby affirmed.
“This petition is hereby dismissed.”
Earlier, the Judge stated that the petitioners failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the first respondent’s National Examination Council results and other school certificates were forged.
He added that the petitioners had also failed to prove that the first respondent was not duly elected by majority of votes in the February 25 polls.
Kereng further held: “The APC got 182,035 votes while PDP got 225,066 votes, giving a margin of 43,031.
“The petitioners have failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the respondent didn’t get majority votes.
“Therefore, this issue is in favour of the first respondent and against the petitioner.”
On the issue of non-compliance, the Judge also stated that the petitioners couldn’t prove that there was non-compliance, which affected the election results.
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Kereng added that the issue of sponsorship and nomination of candidates was the responsibility of the political party, not court, while resolving the issue in favour of the respondent.
While speaking with newsmen, the Personal Assistant to the Senator, Jalal Falal, appreciated God for granting them victory.
Falal urged the opposition to join hands with the sitting senator to work for the process and development of the people of Kaduna Central Senatorial District.