Tribunal reserves judgment on Zamfara governorship election petition
Zamfara State Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Sokoto, has reserved judgement on the petition filed by the former Governor of the state Alhaji Bello Mohammed Matawalle Maradun challenging the authenticity of the Governorship election result that brought Dauda Lawal as Governor of the state.
The three-man panel of judges led by Justice Cordelia Ogadi reserved the judgement to a later date to be communicated to the parties involved, after the respondents and council to the petitioner, Bello Matawallen Maradun, adopted their written addresses to close their arguments.
The first and second respondents Dauda Lawal, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC have all made their testimonies before the Tribunal.
Lawal prayed the Tribunal to dismiss the petition filed by the former Governor Bello Matawalle, challenging March 18 Zamfara Governorship Election for lack of merit.
All the respondents cited a case of Oyetola versus Ademola, saying that, the petitioner failed to prove his case, and urged the tribunal to strike out the petition forthwith.
The lead counsel to the petitioner, Barrister Usman Sule, said in his submission that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had excluded the result sheet of 98,564 votes in the Maradun Local Government Area, and the elections was not concluded in some council areas of the state, but a winner was declared.
