The Supreme Court, on Monday, dismissed the appeal by Ahmed Aliyu challenging the election of Governor Aminu Tambuwal in the March 9, 2019 governorship election in Sokoto State.
A seven-man panel of justices of the court headed by Chief Justice of Nigeria, CJN, Justice Tanko Muhammad, held that the appellant failed to adduce any credible evidence to prove his petition against the outcome of the governorship election.
Aliyu polled 511,661 votes against 512,002 votes by Tambuwal after the conclusion of collation in the rerun. But lawyers to PDP and Tambuwal, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) and Muyiwa Akinboro (SAN) asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the appeal. They argued that they have met the standard of proof that they won the election.
Justice Musa Abba-Ajji who delivered the lead judgment noted that whereas the appellant produced 12 witnesses before the tribunal, 11 of them made their statements in the Hausa language while the English version was tendered in evidence.
It held that the appellant failed to tender the original version of the statements he tendered in evidence and also failed to produce the translator to confirm the authenticity or otherwise of the 11 statements.
