BREAKING: Appeal Court Upholds Gov. Bala Mohammed’s Victory | READ MORE
Governor Bala Mohammed, has been affirmed by the court of appeal sitting in Abuja, as the winner of the March 18, 2023 governorship election in Bauchi state.
Giving judgement on Friday, in the petition filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Sadique Abubakar, the three-man panel, led by justice Justice Chidi Nwaoma Uwa, ruled that the appellant failed to prove his allegation that the forms and booklets used in the election were not properly filled.
The court also ruled that the appellant failed to state the polling units involved in the said allegations and that he was unable to state what was missing in the forms. It further held that the appellant was unable to prove how the said improperly filled forms affected the results of the election.
The court held that the witnesses called by the appellant were unable to prove that they understood what the forms looked like, while commending the tribunal for doing a thorough job by scrutinising the evidence before it.
On the plea that there was massive non-compliance with the electoral laws, the court ruled that the appellant again could not prove this, as some of the witnesses who testified did not vote on election day and those who voted only spoke based on what they saw in their polling units alone.
On the issue of the alleged unprofessional conduct of INEC officials, the court held the same views as the tribunal, saying it was never part of the plea by the appellant at the lower court and that it was not pleaded and could not be argued.
On the plea about fraudulent cancellations, mutilations and alterations to favour the PDP candidate, the appeal court noted that, if proven, falsification of results is a criminal matter that could lead to the cancellation of election results.
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