Supreme Court Affirms Aliyu As Sokoto Governor

The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed Ahmed Aliyu as the Governor of Sokoto State.

Justice Tijjani Abubakar, while delivering the lead judgment of a five-member panel of the court, dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Saidu Umar.

The appeal was dismissed for lacking merit.

Naija News recalls that Aliyu, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was declared winner of the governorship election with 453,661 votes to defeat Umar who secured 404,632 votes.

However, Umar alleged that the governor and Idris Gobir, his running mate, forged the certificates they presented to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The petitioners also alleged electoral fraud during the poll.

The tribunal, in its judgment, said the petitioners were unable to prove the six grounds contained in their petition.

While upholding the decision of the tribunal, the appellate court, in November, held that most of the evidence that the petitioners tendered was legally inadmissible.