By Vivian Okejeme
Abuja
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, yesterday, dismissed an appeal challenging the 2015 governorship election that produced Aminu Waziri Tambuwal as governor of Sokoto state for lack of merit.
Senator Umaru Dahiru had approached the appellate court to set-aside the election on the ground that he was not validly elected as a candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the 2015 governorship election.
Darihu had sued APC, Tambuwal and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), asking the court to declare the APC primaries of December 4, 2014 which produced Tambuwal as the party candidate null and void on the ground that due process of law relating to the election was not followed.
The lawmaker submitted that the delegates list from the national secretariat was swapped and that none of the delegates was accredited as required by law.
The appellate court in the judgment, delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, held that the appeal lacked merit and substance.
Agim, in the judgment that lasted for more than two hours, held that the appellant was inconsistent in his case with contradictory evidence in his affidavits and documents placed before the court.
The court also held that the claim of the appellant that he be declared winner of the said primary election was strange to law, having copiously claimed in his documentary evidence and affidavit placed before the court that there was no primary election.
Justice Agim held that in the face of such inconsistencies, the case of the appellant has become worthless and has no probate value.
“In all, the case of the appellant lacks merit and it is hereby dismissed with a N100, 000 to be paid to each of the three respondents as cost,” Agim ruled.
