Sophia Michaels
Three petitions against the elections of Senator Aliyu Wamakko, Abdussamad Dasuki and Bala Hassan were on Friday dismissed by the National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Sokoto State.
Wamakko is representing Sokoto North Senatorial District on the platform of the All Progressives Congress while Dasuki of the Peoples Democratic Party is representing Tambuwal/Kebbe Federal Constituency in Sokoto.
Hassan is also representing Sokoto North/Sokoto South Federal Constituency under the umbrella of the APC.
In a unanimous judgment read by the Chairperson, Justice Josephine Oyefeso, on behalf of other Justices Haruna Muhammad and Eke Eze, the panel upheld the elections and dismissed the petitions for lack of merit.
Oyefeso said the petitioners were unable to prove the allegations contained in the petitions beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.
She said the burden of proving a petition solely relied on the petitioners, adding that the witnesses and exhibits presented were not tangible enough to contradict the electoral body’s decisions.
Wamakko’s election was challenged in the tribunal by the former Deputy Governor of Sokoto State, Manir Dan’iya, who was a PDP candidate during the Feb. 25, 2023 elections, and prayed the tribunal to declare him the legitimate winner and duly elected Senator.
He argued that Wamakko was not qualified to contest the election as he did not attach copies of his credentials while completing Independent National Electoral Commission forms and the election flouted electoral guidelines.
Bala Kokani of the APC also challenged the election of Dasuki on the grounds that Dasuki did not score the majority of lawful votes cast during the Feb. 25 elections.
Kokani prayed the tribunal to declare him the winner as the candidate who scored the majority of lawful votes or order supplementary elections as the election was marred by violence and other irregularities.
Abubakar Abdullahi, the candidate of PDP during the election challenged the election of Bala Hassan of APC on the grounds that the election was marred by irregularities and Hassan is not qualified to contest the said election.
