The Supreme Court on Friday, January 13, upheld the election of Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State.

The five-member panel of justices in a judgement read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, set aside the judgement of the Court of Appeal that declared the election inconclusive.

The court described the judgement of the appellate court as “perverse”, and ruled in favour of the appeal filed by Lawal and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Lawal as the winner of the March 18, 2023 Zamfara governorship election with 377,726 votes.

Bello Matawalle, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 311,976 votes, challenged the outcome of the poll.

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Matawalle, now minister of state for defence, had accused INEC of subverting his victory at the poll by failing to include the results of some wards.

In September 2023, the tribunal held that the petition was devoid of merit and a N500,000 fine was awarded against the petitioners.

In November 2023, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja declared the Zamfara governorship election inconclusive.

The three-member panel of the appellate court unanimously annulled the victory of Lawal and ordered INEC to hold a fresh election in three LGAs.

The local governments are Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukyun.

The Star