Breaking: Supreme Court okays Sule’s election as Nasarawa State governor

The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State.

In a unanimous decision, a five-member panel of the apex court on Friday affirmed the declaration of Sule of the All Progressives Congress(APC) as winner of the March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state.

In its lead judgement delivered by Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, the court dismissed as lacking in merit, the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and its candidate, David Ombugadu.

It will be recalled that the Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, in a two-to-one split judgement it delivered on October 2, 2023, nullified Governor Sule’s election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) to issue a fresh Certificate of Return to the PDP candidate.

The tribunal held that Governor Sule was a beneficiary of over-voting that occurred in several polling units in the state.

However, following an appeal by the governor and his party, the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, on November 23, reversed his sack and vacated the decision of the tribunal.
The appellate court held that the tribunal erred in law when it concluded that Governor Sule did not win the majority of lawful votes that were cast in the election.

The court maintained that the record before it established that the tribunal relied on legally inadmissible evidence to declare the PDP candidate as the winner of the governorship election.

The appellate court held that the tribunal wrongly relied on the evidence of eight of the witnesses that were produced by the PDP candidate, whose witness statements on oath were not front-loaded alongside the petition.

Dissatisfied with the judgement of the appeal court, the PDP and its candidate approached the Supreme Court.