Kaduna Central: Tribunal Dismisses PDP Candidate’s Petition

The National and State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Kaduna has dismissed the petition by the Senatorial candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mr. Lawal Adamu.

Mr Adamu’s petition was dismissed on Saturday for failure to provide concrete evidences to back his claims.

He had approached the tribunal asking to be declared winner of the election and nullify the election of Senator Uba Sani of the All Progressives Congress as senator of Kaduna Central Senatorial District, alleging that the election was characterised by massive rigging and other irregularities by the ruling party in connivance with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies.

Delivering a judgment that lasted over two hours, Chairman of the three-man tribunal, Justice Abubakar Suleiman, said that the PDP candidate’s petition has no substance and lacked merit.

He explained that the petitioner failed to present convincing evidence that the election was rigged in favour of the defendant, hence the tribunal dismissed his petition.

One of the counsels to the defendant, Frank Ikpe, described the judgement as wonderful, while the Kaduna state PDP chairman, Hassan Hyet in his reaction, expressed displeasure with the judgment, accusing the APC government of succeeding in ridiculing the security agencies and INEC.

He however, added that his party will seek further advice from its legal team.