The tribunal On Saturday in Kaduna State upheld the election of Lawal Adamu-Usman from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the senator representing Kaduna Central. Abdullahi Muhammad-Sani, who ran under the banner of the All Progressives Congress (APC), had lodged a petition challenging Adamu-Usman’s victory on four grounds, including allegations of school certificate forgery, overvoting, non-compliance, and concerns about the candidate’s nomination and sponsorship.
The three-member panel, presided over by Justice H.H. Kereng, dismissed all the grounds put forth by the petitioners and delivered the verdict: “The elections and return of the first respondent are hereby affirmed. This petition is hereby dismissed.”
Before reaching this decision, the judge emphasized that the petitioner had failed to provide conclusive evidence that the respondent’s NECO results and other school certificates were forged. Furthermore, it was determined that the petitioner did not establish that the respondent was not legitimately elected with a majority of votes in the February 25th election.
“The APC got 182, 035 votes, while the PDP got 225, 066 votes, giving a margin of 43, 031. The petitioner has failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the respondent didn’t get majority vote. Therefore, this issue is in favour of the first respondent and against the petitioner,” he ruled.
On the issue of non-compliance, the judge averred that the petitioner couldn’t prove that there was non-compliance that affected the election results.
He added that sponsorship and nomination of candidates are responsibilities of political parties, not of the court, and thus resolved it in favour of the respondent.