The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has voided the election of Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State and declared the election inconclusive.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Lawal the winner of the March 18 governorship election.
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But the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenged the victory of Lawal, who ran under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), at the tribunal.
After the tribunal upheld Lawal’s election, the APC proceeded to the Appeal Court.
Yesterday, a three-member panel of justices annulled the victory of Lawal and ordered a rerun of the election in three local government areas.
The affected LGAs are Maradun, Birnin Magaji, and Bokoyom.
INEC had declared Dauda the winner with 377,726 votes, but the incumbent Matawalle of the APC, who polled 311,976 votes, went to court.
Matawalle, now minister of state for defence, had accused INEC of subverting his victory at the poll by failing to include the results of some ward areas.
However, the tribunal, in a judgement on September 18, held that the petition was devoid of merit.
The court also awarded a N500,000 fine against the petitioners.
Matawalle and the APC then filed an appeal challenging the decision of the tribunal.
Delivering judgment, the court of appeal held that the Zamfara state election petitions tribunal did not consider the evidence provided by the appellants.
Consequently, the Court of Appeal declared the election inconclusive and ordered INEC to hold a fresh election in three LGAs.
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