The opposition parties yesterday scored a major point against the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, when various election petitions tribunals upheld the governorship election of? the Nasarawa State governor, Tanko Al-Makura, and his Borno State counterpart, Governor Kashim Shettima.
While Al-Makura contested the April 26, 2011 election under the platform of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), Shettima flew the flag of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in Borno.
The PDP candidate in Nasarawa State, who was dethroned by Al-Makura, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma and his Borno State counterpart, Alhaji Mohammed Goni, had gone to court to challenge the verdict of the election governing body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
It was jubilation all the way for followers of both incumbent governors, when the election petition tribunals announced their ruling and declared the governors winners in the election.
It would be recalled that the acting president, Court of Appeal, Justice Dalhatu Adamu, had on Thursday, barely three days to end of the statutory 180 days for the hearing of election petitions, dissolved the Borno state governorship election petition tribunal before the panel could deliver judgement in the petition, but on Friday, the Acting Appeal Court President reversed himself and restored the dissolved panel, paving the way for yesterday’s judgment of the election petition.
Dismissing the petition, a panel of three judges, led by Justice Sani Adamu ruled that the petitioner abandoned his petition.
Other members of the panel were Justices A.N. Awalu and L. A. Akintoroye (who was said to be unavoidably absent at the tribunal sitting yesterday).
In his ruling that lasted for about two hours, the judge observed that the time for the hearing of the petition had elapsed and therefore, the tribunal lacked jurisdiction to hear it.
In the same vein, the tribunal said that it had a duty to excercise discretion on matters before it, and added that such discretion must be founded on the relevant provisions of the statute in question.