THE National and State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in the Minna High Court complex, has upheld Senator Sani Musa’s (APC) election.
Senator Sani was taken to the Tribunal by Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Barrister Ibrahim Isyaku (SAN) who was contesting the election of the second respondent in the Niger East Senatorial district on February 25, 2023.
The petitioner alleged in his appeal submitted on June 7, 2023, that the election was characterized by unprecedented anomalies, over-voting, and denial of eligible voters’ right to vote in seven of the local governments that comprise the senatorial districts.
He further stated that the petition’s first respondent, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), did not conduct the election in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
The PDP candidate contended that the second respondent election should be declared null and void because he did not receive a majority of the votes cast.
He further noted that BVAS machines were not used in the majority of polling units in six of the Senatorial district’s nine local government areas, and that the majority of voters were not registered to vote.
The petitioner asked the Tribunal, among other things, that the result sheet for the Niger East senatorial district election on February 25, 2023 be signed.
He asked the Tribunal to annul the election and declare him the genuine and lawful winner, having received the majority of votes cast at the majority of polling units in seven of the nine local governments.
During the Tribunal’s pre-hearing trial, 37 exhibits and two witnesses, as well as three supoened witnesses, were submitted, and evidence was permitted.
The presiding officer and the electoral officer of Shiroro and Chanchaga local governments, as well as the polling agents, were all summoned and testified at the Tribunal.
After painstakingly reviewing the petition, Justice Mohammed Rashid, a member two of the Tribunal’s three-man panel, determined that the petitioner failed to prove all of the allegations raised in his petition, and the petition was dismissed as lacking merit.
