JUST IN: Supreme Court Upholds Lawal’s Election As Zamfara Governor
The Supreme Court has confirmed Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the Governor of Zamfara. The decision of the Court of Appeal Abuja, which declared the Governorship Election as inconclusive and ordered a re-run in three Local Government Areas of the state, was set aside by the apex court.
In November, the Court of Appeal nullified Lawal’s election, however, he was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election, defeating then-incumbent Bello Matawalle of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with a total of 377,726 votes. Matawalle scored 311,976 votes.
Matawalle had accused INEC of subverting his victory at the poll by failing to include the results of some ward areas. In an earlier ruling on September 18, the Zamfara Election Petitions Tribunal held that the petition was baseless. While upholding Lawal’s victory, the tribunal awarded the petitioners a fine of N500.
Matawalle, unsatisfied with the ruling, took the matter to the Court of Appeal in Abuja to challenge the decision of the lower court.
The three-member panel led by Justice Oyebisi Folayemi nullified the return of Governor Lawal as the winner of the governorship poll and ordered INEC to conduct a fresh election in three local government areas of the state, where elections had not been held previously or where results from various polling units were not counted.
Governor Lawal proceeded to the apex court to seek redress, and the Supreme Court has now upheld his election as the Governor of Zamfara.
