Appeal Court affirms Bala Mohammed as Bauchi Governor

CHIGOZIE IKPO, Abuja

The Court of Appeal, Abuja has affirmed the victory of Bala Mohammed of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the March 18 governorship election in Bauchi state.

The Appellant court upheld the judgement of the Bauchi state governorship tribunal which dismissed the petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its governorship candidate, former Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar.

Delivering the lead judgement, on behalf of the three-member panel, Justice Chidiebere Nwaoma Uwa dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.

Justice Uwa held that the appellants failed to prove their allegations of non-compliance to the provisions of the Electoral Act by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The appellants had alleged that the electoral materials were not properly filled in 8 local governments of the state.

However, the court said that the appellants did not call officers of INEC, supervising and presiding officers to give evidence to prove that the said forms were not filled and why.

Justice Uwa held that though there were blank spaces in some of the forms produced as evidence, it was not substantial enough to cancel the election, because the appellants failed to prove what should have been in those spaces.

She said “from the pleadings, the appellants failed to state the specific details which were to be in the alleged forms, that were not put on the forms.”

The judge said the tribunal did a thorough job in evaluating the evidence and that “the evidence of the petitioners were unreliable”

“This appeal is hereby dismissed as the  appellants failed to prove their case” Justice Uwa said

It would be recalled that the Bauchi State Governorship Election Tribunal on September 5, 2023, upheld Bala Mohammed as Bauchi State governor

In the judgment delivered by a three-man panel led by Justice P.T Kwahar, the court held that there is no strong reason to nullify the election as the election was conducted in compliance with the law.

INEC had in March declared that Mohammed polled 525,280 to beat his closest rival and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Air Marshal Abubakar who polled 432,272.

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