Judgment day imminent for El-Rufai, Ashiru in Kaduna

El-Rufai

Ashiru and El-Rufai

Ashiru and El-Rufai

Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai and his challenger from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Alhaji Isah Ashiru will soon know their fate as the Kaduna State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal adjourned sitting on Monday after counsels adopted their final written addresses.

Justice Ibrahim M. Bako, Chairman of the three-member Tribunal, said that a date would be reserved for judgement and that all parties will be notified through their counsel.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its Governorship candidate, Ashiru had gone to the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the March 9 poll in which El-Rufai was returned as duly elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The Petitioners, in their final written address on Monday, asked the Tribunal to cancel a total 515, 951 votes which it contended were unlawfully added to the total votes cast during the March 9 poll.

The petitioners had called 135 witnesses out of the 685 they assembled to prove allegations of massive rigging, ballot stuffing and other irregularities during the poll as contained in their petition.

Ashiru and the PDP alleged that INEC had added 391,741 votes to El-Rufai of APC and a total of 124, 210 unlawful votes to the PDP through wrong or double entry on the result sheets.

The PDP and its candidate also contended that declaring El-Rufai winner by INEC was illegal as he did not score majority of lawful votes.

The PDP, through its legal team led by Emmanuel C. Ukala (SAN), said deducting 391,741 votes from 1,045,427 scored by El-Rufai and 124,210 from Ashiru’s 814, 168 votes would give victory to PDP and Ashiru, its candidate in the poll.

The counsel further argued that after the deduction of the alleged unlawful votes, Ashiru would be left with 689,958 lawful votes, while El-Rufai would  have 653,686 votes.

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In his submission, Ukala argued that all parties to the petition were bound to argue their cases on the basis of whether or not the petitioners had assembled credible evidence to sustain their petition, as formulated by the tribunal.

According to him, “only the 2nd respondent premised his argument on the issues formulated by this honourable tribunal. The 1st and 3rd respondents went on their own forays.

“It is therefore our submission that the argument of the 1st and 3rd respondents should go to ‘no issue’, having not addressed the issue which was binding to all parties, “ Ukala argued.

Similarly, Abdulhakeem Mustapha, counsel to El-Rufai, the 2nd respondent in the petition, asked the tribunal “to invoke its majestic powers to dismiss the petition as lacking in merit and to confirm that the 2nd respondent, Malam El Rufai as duly elected as governor of Kaduna State on the March 9 election.

Mustapha, in an interview with newsmen also said: “we have been able to tell the court that all the witnesses called by the petitioners failed woefully to prove the ingredient of the fact relied upon in their petition. The onus is on the petitioners to come with credible evidence and all the testimonies of the witnesses produced by the petitioners were demolished under cross examination.

“There is nothing that the court will see to be persuaded to give judgment in their favour, we have been able to show with the witnesses we called that the election was conducted in conformity with the provision of the electoral Act.

“We are very satisfied with the proceedings and we are very sure that justice will be done and sure that Malam Nasir El-Rufai was duly elected by the people of Kaduna State. On behalf of the 2nd respondent, the final written address which was dated 2nd August, was filed on 3rd August, 2019, while the 2nd respondent filed a reply on fact of law on August 16.”

 

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