The Court of Appeal in Jos, on Friday, November 29, 2019, dismissed the appeal challenging the electoral victory of Bala Mohammed, the governor of Bauchi State.
The appeal was filed by the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its governorship candidate, Mohammed Abubakar.
The Election Petition Tribunal in Bauchi on October 7, 2019, dismissed the petition of the APC and its candidate in the election and affirmed the victory of Bala Mohammed, a former senator, as the duly elected governor of the state.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the tribunal’s judgement, the APC approached the higher court and asked it to set aside the lower court’s judgment.
APC also asked the higher court to declare its candidate, Abubakar, as the duly elected Governor.
Delivering judgement on Friday, the five-member panel dismissed all the four grounds of the appeal of the APC.
Details of the judgement was reported by Punch newspaper.
O. A. Otisi, the presiding judge while reading the judgement held that all the grounds of appeal filed before the court by the appellants lacked merit and thereby dismissed them.
While addressing journalists after the judgement, the governor’s lawyer, Chris Uche, was quoted by Punch as hailing the judgement saying it was a victory for democracy. He also described it as a reconfirmation and ratification of Bala Mohammed’s victory.
“This is a very well-considered and good judgement and we are happy that this is further confirmation and ratification of the electoral victory of Governor Bala Mohammed.
“This is the second time the court has affirmed him and as you can see, the appellants had no place because their appeal lacked merit, just as the court found it and that was why he said they never tried proving any of their allegations.”
Uche said the APC’s “case suffered from acute evidential deficiency both in quality and quantity.”
He said he believes his client of the Peoples Democratic Party would win even if the APC appeals to the Supreme Court.
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