The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the election of Aminu Tambuwal as Governor of Sokoto State.

The court in a unanimous judgment held that the appellants failed to prove allegations made against the election that returned Tambuwal as Governor of Sokoto State.

Justice Uwani Aba-Aji while delivering judgment held that the cases of the appellants lacked in merit and hereby dismissed.

All Progressive Congress candidate Ahmed Aliyu Sokoto had approached the apex court to set aside the concurrent judgment of the tribunal and Court of Appeal which upheld the election of Tambuwal and declare him winner of the Sokoto governorship election.

INEC had declared Tambuwal of the PDP winner of the Sokoto governorship election having won majority of votes cast with a slim margin of barely 300 votes.

The APC candidate in his appeal however claimed that the election was rigged in favour of Tambuwal and approached the Supreme Court to nullify the election.

The Court of Appeal, Sokoto Division, on had reaffirmed the election of Gov. Tambuwal, as duly elected in the governorship election held in the state.

The lead Judge, Justice Husseini Mukhtar of the appeal court upheld the judgement of the tribunal which had earlier dismissed the petition filed against the governor by Aliyu.

The court noted that both appeals and cross-appeal were lacking in merit and thereby dismissed them at no cost.

The petition had challenged the declaration of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Governor Tambuwal, as the winner of the general and supplementary polls conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, on 9th and 23rd of March, 2019, respectively. (NAN)

On Nov. 22, 2019 a five-man panel of the Court of Appeal, presided over by Justice Usaini Murkhtar, dismissed the appeals.

Sokoto State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had on Oct. 2, 2019 dismissed the petition against Tambuwal.

But dissatisfied with the tribunal judgment, the APC, through its lead counsel, Dr Alex Iziyon (SAN) had appealed the judgment on three grounds of non-compliance with electoral laws, over voting and other irregularities.

The Appeal Court ruled that the appellant failed to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt, thereby dismissed the case.

*UPDATED