Ombugadu lost as court of appeal overturned the dismissal of Governor Abdullahi Sule

 

 

 The Court of Appeal  in  Abuja  on  Thursday overturned  the  sacking  of Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State. 

  The  Court of Appeal,  in a unanimous decision by a  three-judge panel, overturned  the  judgment  of the Nasarawa State Governorship Election  Petitions  Tribunal,  overruling Governor  Sule of the All Progressives Congress,  APC .  

 In the lead  judgment  delivered by Justice Uchechukwu Onuemenam, the court held that  the  evidence before  the determination  that the  court had  relied on legally inadmissible  evidence in declaring  the  candidacy  of the  People's  Democratic  Party ,  PDP, David Ombugadu,  was  the valid winner of the  poll. The  governorship election  was  held in the state on March 18. 

  According to the  Court of Appeal,  the  court  wrongly relied on the  statements  of eight  witnesses  given  by the PDP candidate, whose  statements  were not  first presented along with  the petition.  He pointed out  that  section  285(5) of the 1999 Constitution, as amended, section 132(7) of the Electoral Act 2022 and  subsections 4(5)(6)  and 14(2) of the  first schedule of election law, each sworn declaration  must be filed  with  the  request,  within the  statutory deadline.  

  “Once the  trial court  has  admitted and acted  upon  inadmissible  illegal  evidence, it is the duty of the appellate court to ensure that such  illegal  evidence  is suppressed.  

 

  "The  court  is  authorized  to act  only  on  evidence  admissible  at law.  If  the document authorized  by  the  trial  court is unlawful,  the appellate court  has a  duty  to exclude the  document  and  suppress  the evidence." 

 

 The  Court of Appeal  proceeded to  destroy  all  evidence and  documents  that  eight witnesses presented in court. 

 He found that  the  testimony of  the  remaining 12 witnesses who testified in favor of the PDP candidate was not enough to uphold the court's verdict. Furthermore, the Court of Appeals  held that the  court  erred  in  deducting  a total of  1,868  votes  from Governor  Sule,  based  on the  assumption  that  overvoting occurred at  four polling  stations.  

  He found  that the  court erred  in its  decision because  the  applicants  did not provide  the  necessary documents  to prove  their overvoting.  

 

 The court noted that  the  Bimodal Voter  Certification  System, BVAS, machines, and other  election documents  were  only submitted to  the  court  without any  documents proving  how the  overvoting occurred .  

 

  He criticized  the  court  for summarily dismissing the  testimony  of witnesses  who  testified  in favor of  the APC candidate, describing the  move  as  “inverse”,  adding that  no witness was summoned  by the PDP  Their collective  and  candidates provide corroborating  evidence that the  court  could have  done. .  

  He said  the  court  acted wrongly  in recalculating the  votes and  declaring  the PDP candidate  the  winner of the election.  "Overall,  I  assess  that this appeal  is well-founded  and  successful, and  the  court's  majority  decision issued  on October 2 is  rejected,"  the court  said.  

  He therefore set aside  the  court  order  directing  the Independent National Electoral  Commission (INEC)  to  revoke  the  certificate  of  return  issued to  Governor  Sule as the winner of the governorship  race . 

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