PDP guber candidate rejects verdict of Sokoto tribunal

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Sokoto State, Saidu Umar, has rejected the verdict of the governorship election petition tribunal on the outcome of the March 18 election in the state.

The three-man panel of the tribunal led by Justice Haruna Msheila had earlier on Saturday upheld Governor Ahmed Aliyu’s victory in the election.

The panel dismissed Umar’s petition on the election for lack of substance.

However, in a statement issued on Saturday night, the PDP candidate promised to pursue the petition to its logical conclusion.

He wrote: “Our ambition is to render service by the approval and mandate of our people through the instrument of a free and fair election.

“Today’s ruling of the governorship election tribunal is only a stage in our struggle to reclaim that mandate of the electorate, who are confident of our sincerity of purpose and competence to deliver service and good leadership.

“We wish to reassure our supporters and the electorate as a whole, that they are part of this struggle, which we shall pursue with all zeal and commitment.

“Let me put it on record that we, as a political party and candidates in the 2023 governorship election in Sokoto State, have found the ruling of the tribunal unacceptable.

“Our legal team is, therefore, studying the details of today’s judgement, with a view to determining the appropriate next line of action on our part.

“My running mate and I, and indeed our party, recognise the role of our nation’s judiciary as the last hope of the common man and we are well aware that it is only through recourse to it that justice can be attained.

“We wish to, therefore, call on all of us to remain focused, calm law-abiding, and rededicate ourselves to the task of retrieving our mandate through the only civilised instrument that is available to us as lovers of justice and the rule of law.”

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