The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja has upheld the election of Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma after dismissing the appeal by the All Nigeria Peoples’ Party (ANPP) gubernatorial candidate, Barrister Solomon Ewuga.
Besides, the court awarded a cost of N60, 000 against the ANPP in favour of the governor and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
In a unanimous decision led by Justice Mary Odili, the panel of five justices held that the petition by Ewuga and the ANPP against the election was weak and bereft of substantial evidence to move in his favour.
It would be recalled that shortly after the April 14, 2007 election in which Governor Akwe Doma emerged winner, Ewuga filed a petition before the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lafia.
Ewuga had alleged that apart from the fact that the election was marred by irregularities, it was an aberration to provisions of the Electoral Act (2002). Upon losing at the tribunal, he approached the appellate court for a comprehensive review of the judgment.
The appellate court held that Ewuga failed to prove the allegation of non-compliance with the Electoral Act and that the findings of the tribunal were okay in that it acted upon what was before it.
The tribunal had on February 12, upheld the election of Governor Aliyu Akwe Doma as the duly elected governor of Nasarawa state in the 2007 April 14 election. It said the petitioner lacked credibility and sufficient evidence to prove the alleged irregularities and malpractices.