Nasarawa governorship election tribunal reserves judgment

The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Nasarawa State, on Thursday, reserved judgement on the petition challenging the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule in the 2023 governorship election in the state.

The governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), David Ombugadu, had approached the tribunal to challenge the declaration of Governor Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as winner of the poll.

It would be recalled that the tribunal had announced September 14, 2023, for the adoption of the written addresses of all the parties involved in the case.

After the adoption of the final written addresses by counsel for the petitioner, as well as the first, second and third respondents on Thursday, the Chairman of the three-man Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, Justice Ezekiel Ajayi, reserved its judgement.

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Justice Ajayi also infom the parties involved that the tribunal would communicate the day of judgement to them through their counsel.

The lead counsel for the petitioner, Kanu Agabi (SAN), while adopting his written address, told the tribunal that he had adopted all the arguments in his written addresses.

He urged the tribunal to annul the Nasarawa state governorship election for non-compliance with the Electoral Act and declare the candidate of the PDP as winner of the election.

Agabi also explained that there was no relationship between the votes in the IREV portal and the final result that was declared, arguing that the PDP candidate had the highest number of votes cast at the election, based on the records in the IREV portal and the information of the BVAS machines that were used at various polling units in the state.

Counsels for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC, and Governor Sule; Isiaka Dikko (SAN), Hassan Liman (SAN), and Wole Olanikpekun (SAN) respectively, adopted their final written addresses and called on the tribunal to dismiss the petition for lacking in merit.

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