The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Thursday affirmed the election of Senator Jibrin Isah of the APC as the senator representing Kogi East.
Mr Isah is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mr Isah of the All Progressives Congress APC) as the winner of the Kogi East Senatorial District election.
But the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party who came second in the election, Victor Adoji, challenged the return of Mr Isah.
He said this was on grounds that the elections were cancelled in some polling units where the PVCs collected were more than the margin of win.
He, however, pleaded with the tribunal to nullify Mr Isah’s victory and order a supplementary election in the affected 94 polling units in the senatorial district.
In a unanimous judgment, the tribunal led by Justice K.A. Orjiako ordered a rerun in 94 polling units where there were irregularities in the last general election.
Not pleased with the judgment, Mr Isah filed an appeal against the lower court’s decision.
The appeal court, in its judgment on Thursday, held that the witness on which the tribunal relied its judgment was incompetent.
The court subsequently expunged the exhibits presented by the witness from the records.
The court held that the appeal succeeded and the tribunal’s judgment is hereby set aside, and the appellant’s victory was sustained and affirmed.
(NAN)
