Sophia Michaels
The former House of Representatives Majority Leader, Alhassan Ado Doguwa has again defeated Salisu Yushau Abdullahi of the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) over a petition he filed seeking to cancel the reelection of Doguwa as representative for Doguwa/Tudunwada Federal Constituency, Kano.
Delivering judgment in a petition brought by Abdullahi against the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Justice L.B. Owolabi, said the petitioner failed to prove his petition within legally reasonable doubt.
Justice Owolabi said all three grounds relied upon by the petitioner—namely, alleged corrupt practises by Doguwa, non-compliance with electoral law, and failure to win needed lawful votes—are baseless and could not be accepted as reasons to cancel the election.
On the allegation of violence during elections, the petitioner’s 21 witnesses testified contrarily, stating that no violence was recorded during the election.
The court, in a unanimous decision, agreed that all 32 witnesses called by the petitioner failed to give strong evidence to truncate the election.
While delivering the judgement, the presiding judge wondered how all the witnesses of the petitioner arrived at their various polling units at the same time and witnessed over-voting at all the units but could not recognise their result sheets. Therefore, their evidence, he said, could not stand the test of time.
“The petitioner in whole has failed to make any case capable of truncating the election of Alhassan Ado Doguwa; as such, he is hereby returned duly elected by a majority vote,” the judge said.
