The Supreme Court has reserved judgment on an appeal seeking to unseat Governor Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto State and the governor of Taraba State, Dr. Kefas Agbu.
The five-member panel of Justices of the apex court, headed by Justice Kudirat Kekere – Ekun on Wednesday reserved judgment in the two appeals to a date that would be announced to parties in the matter after briefs filed were adopted by parties.
Sunday Ameh (SAN), the lead counsel to the appellants, Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) and its candidate, Saidu Umar, prayed the court to allow the appeal and grant all the reliefs sought, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), representing governor Ahmad Aliyu of the All Progressives Congress, (APC) urged the court to dismiss the appeal for lacking in merit.
Olanipekun also prayed the court to uphold the concurrent judgments of the Sokoto State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal which affirmed the election of Aliyu as Sokoto State governor.
Other respondents in the appeal had, while adopting their briefs, prayed the court to dismiss the appeal challenging the declaration of Aliyu as the bonafide winner of the March 18, governorship election that held in the state.
The Court of Appeal had, in a unanimous judgement delivered last year affirmed the election of Governor Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto State on the ground that, it found no reason to disturb the verdict of the Tribunal, which had earlier validated Governor Aliyu’s election victory.
Umar and the PDP had approached the tribunal, alleging that Aliyu and his deputy, Idris Gobir, were not eligible to contest the governorship election.
The petitioners contended that Governor Idris and his deputy did not secure majority of valid votes that were cast at the election to be declared winners by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
They alleged that the election was not only marred by irregularities but was also not conducted in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.