There is confusion In Kaduna State now as a result of two opposing judgements delivered by the State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, one in favour of the Governor, Uba Sani and the other calling for rerun of the election.
The tribunal, which delivered the judgement via zoom today, September 28, upheld the election of the Governor on the umbrella of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
It dismissed the petition filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) gubernatorial candidate, Isah Ashiru Kudan.
The judgment, which took five and half hours, saw the three-man panel of judges led by Justice Victor Oviawie, Justice K. Damlat and Justice N. Nonye, stricking out the petition because the preliminary notice was filed out of time, after the seven days prescribed by the constitution, and was deemed to have been abandoned.
Giving a split judgment, Justice Victor Oviawie said the preliminary notice was filed outside the seven days prescribed by the constitution from the day when the main case was filed, adding that the petition was deemed to be abandoned and this judgment was also towed by Justice N. Nonye, while Justice K. Damlat differed.
In his own verdict, Justice Damlat said that the preliminary notice was properly filed and was not abandoned.
Another aspect of the split judgement declared that the governorship election was inconclusive and a rerun should be conducted.
In the split decision of a ratio of 2:1, the three-man tribunal declared the election inconclusive and directed that a supplementary election should be held by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) within 90 days.
INEC is to conduct election in seven wards, four local govts, 24 polling units consisting of 16,300 registered voters.
