The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Minna on Wednesday upheld the election of Governor Abubakar Bello of Niger State.
The Chairman of the Tribunal, John Igboji, while delivering judgment, held that the petitioners merely pleaded facts without substantiating them with evidence.
Igboji also said the Tribunal cannot sit as an appellate court on an issue already decided by a Federal High Court.
It should be recalled that Umar Nasko, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate in the March governorship election in the state, and his party had dragged Bello, the All Progressives Congress, and his deputy, Ahmed Ketso, before the tribunal.
The petitioners alleged that the duo presented forged academic and declaration of age certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission.
According to Igboji: “We have come to the inevitable conclusion that the petitioners have failed to their establish their case as there is no shred of cogent evidence in proof of the allegation as required by relevant laws.
“In the circumstance we accordingly hold that the petitioners are not entitled to any relief sought, their petition being bereft of any merit and the petition is hereby dismissed for lack of merit.
“We therefore affirm and uphold the election of the first respondent, Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello, as the duly elected governor of Niger State.”
The Tribunal also awarded a cost of N50,000 each against the petitioners in favour of the respondents.
Reacting to the judgment, the counsel to the petitioner, Mohammed Ndayako, said their case was knocked out on technical grounds.
Ndayako noted that the petitioners will carefully study the judgment before deciding the next line of action.
On his part, counsel to Governor Bello, Jibrin Okutepa (SAN), described the judgment as a sound one, saying it was a “great jurisprudential exposition”.
Also speaking Chief of Staff to the Governor, Ibrahim Balarabe, said the judgment was a victory for democracy and the people of Niger State.
Balarabe called on the petitioners to join hands with the governor to move the state forward.
He said: “It’s a celebration.
“No winner, no vanquished.
“We should all join hands to develop Niger State.
“Nigerlites should expect the best from the government of Abubakar Bello because we are going to the next level.”
However the Director of Media of the Umar Nasko Campaign Organisation, Mohammed Yahaya, said: “We have two more levels ahead.
“We will appeal the judgement.
“We reject the judgement in its entirety and see it as a miscarriage of justice to cover forgeries under the guise of technicality.
“We submit that the parties to the pre-election are different and issues are also different.
“Why would they force Nasko into a case that he was not party and hide under the guise of abuse of court process to cover monumental forgery of seven categories of document?”
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