The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has affirmed the election of Uba Sani of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as the governor of Kaduna State.
Affirm Sani’s election, A three-member panel of the appellate court ruled on Friday that the tribunal erred when it relied on inadmissible evidence to order supplementary polls in 22 polling units of four local government areas (LGAs) where the election was deemed inconclusive.
According to the court, a crucial witness called by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the tribunal hearing only provided hearsay evidence because he was not present when the alleged malpractices occurred.
The appeals court ruled that the witness’s charges of vote tampering, ballot box stuffing, and mutilation of key election materials were based on hearsay.
The court also ruled that the tribunal was correct in dismissing the petitions of the PDP and Isa Ashiru because the petitioners had abandoned their case due to their failure to apply for the issuance of a pre-hearing information sheet after the close of pleadings, as required by paragraph 18(1) of the first schedule to the Electoral Act 2022.
