The Supreme Court verdict of 19th Friday 2024, upholding two earlier appeal court decisions on the governorship issues in Kaduna state has now put paid to contentions over who the electoral mandate fits.
Senator Uba Sani, who has followed the event from the election tribunal to the apex court reports that the apex court was unpersuaded in its judgment upholding the previous Appeal Court ruling on the matter which validated Senator Uba Sani as Governor of Kaduna State. Read on:
The Supreme Court, led by a five member panel, on Friday January 19th upheld Senator Uba Sani’s election as the governor of Kaduna State.
The court dismissed the appeal by Mohammed Isah Ashiru of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), stating that it lacked merit.
Justice Tijani Abubakar, in the lead decision, described the appellant’s case as frivolous, vexatious, and irritating, and it was dismissed for lacking in merit.
The Supreme Court’s decision affirmed the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had earlier dismissed the appeal filed by Isa Ashiru, the PDP’s candidate in the 2023 governorship election.
The appeal stemmed from the judgement of the Kaduna State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had split two-to-one in its conclusions on the merit of the petition and a technical aspect of the case.
In delivering the judgement, the tribunal ruled that the petition brought by the PDP and Mr. Ashiru failed because the petitioners were too late to apply for pre-hearing notice after filing their petition.
The tribunal also split two-one on the merit of the case, indicating that it must have declared the election inconclusive had the petition passed the procedural test.
Following the nature of the judgement, both parties headed to the Court of Appeal to challenge aspects of the verdict they found unfavourable.
The Court of Appeal resolved both the appeals and cross-appeals in favour of the APC.
As the recourse to the apex court’s verdict, Governor Uba Sani called on the opposition to join hands with his administration to take the state to greater heights.
He commended Isah Ashiru for embracing the legal process and ventilating his anger through the courts, acknowledging the role of democracy in the process.
“If you remember, he was at the tribunal. After the tribunal, he ran to the Court of Appeal, after the court of appeal now the Supreme Court. For me, what he did was commendable. That is the role of democracy.”
Meanwhile, Kaduna was agog on January 20, 2024, with wild celebrations following the Supreme Court’s verdict affirming the victory of Governor Uba Sani. Those joyous gatherings of party supporters and other citizens held on the street and party offices across the state welcoming the court decision in their various ways.
Some of the celebrants had manage to have audience with the governor informed him that they were pleased with his developmental initiatives, especially in rural transformation, and vowed to support him in actualizing his 7-point agenda.
