The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Sokoto State yesterday admitted to exhibit the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) completed nomination forms of Governor Ahmad Aliyu of Sokoto State as well as that of his deputy, Idris Gobir.
Tribunal chairman, Justice Haruna Mshelia, admitted the certified true copies of documents along with INEC political wards and local government areas election results of March 18 governorship elections in Sokoto state.
The documents were tendered by Dr Garba Tetengi, SAN, led counsel of the petitioner, Malam Sa’idu Umar, the gubernatorial candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who is challenging the return of Aliyu of All Progressives Congress (APC) as the governor of Sokoto state.
Umar and the PDP, who participated in the election and lost to Aliyu of APC, alleged that the election was flawed.
Counsel to Aliyu and Gobir, Chief Jacob Ochidi, SAN, and that of APC before the Tribunal, Mr Hassan Liman, SAN, have respectively objected to the admissibility of the documents and reserved their arguments to come in written addresses.
However, Counsel to INEC, Mr AbdulAziz Sani, SAN, did not objected to the admissibility of the documents.
Tribunal Chairman, Mshelia adjourned the sitting to today, June 14, for continuation of hearing.
Recall that Umar and PDP approached the Tribunal demanding the nullification of the election outcomes on alleged electoral flaws arguing that the election did not comply with electoral laws.
