THE National and State Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal for Sokoto/Zamfara states, sitting in Sokoto today, removed a member of the National Assembly who represented Yabo/Shagari Federal Constituency, Umar Yusuf Yabo, also known as Danmaje.
In a unanimous decision by the three-judge Tribunal, the ousted lawmaker was also instructed to pay N500,000 in damages to the petitioner as a cost award.
The Tribunal Chairman, Justice Ashu A. Ewah, announced that Danmaje’s election as a House of Representatives member was nullified.
The other members of the Tribunal include Justice Helen HammanJoda and Justice Ali Changbo.
Justice Ewah mentioned that the elections in 2023, as well as the rerun in February 2024, overseen by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), were tainted by irregularities.
INEC was directed by the Tribunal to arrange and complete another rerun within the next 90 days, to be conducted in two specific polling units in Shagari Local Government Area.
Furthermore, INEC was mandated to retract the certificate of return given to Danmaje.
The lawmaker, who ran under the banner of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had won over his closest competitor, Abubakar Umar of the All Progressives Congress (APC), with a vote count of 27,042 to 25,738 following the court-ordered initial rerun in the state.
Meanwhile, Danmaje said he would appeal the the judgement of the Tribunal.
