Appeal Court Affirms Ahmed Aliyu As Sokoto Governor

Gov Ahmed Aliyu

Gov Ahmed Aliyu has been affirmed as the duly elected Governor of Sokoto State by the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja.

In a ruling on Monday, a three-member panel of justices affirmed Aliyu as the winner of the March 18 governorship election after dismissing the appeal of the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Saidu Umar.

Recall that Umar had challenged the outcome of the Sokoto governorship election, citing alleged falsification of certificates, variation of names, election fraud and non-compliance with electoral guidelines.

Also, the court held that the subpoenaed witnesses failed to front-load their statement on oath along with the election petition within 21 days as required by law.

The Appellate Court added that the evidence brought by the two key witnesses of the PDP was deemed inadmissible and expunged from the record for not being front-loaded.

This decision of the appellate court affirms the ruling of the Sokoto Governorship Election Tribunal, which on September 30 dismissed the PDP candidate’s petition for lacking merit as it was unable to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt.