National and State House Assembly election petitions tribunal sitting in Kaduna has dismissed the petition filed by Mr Michael Ayuba Auta of the Labour Party (LP) challenging the victory of Senator Sunday Marshall Katung of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Kaduna South District Senatorial election.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had returned Senator Katung as winner of the senatorial election held on February 25th, 2023.
Dissatisfied with the declaration, Mr. Auta and the LP approached the tribunal alleging that Senator Katung did not win the election by the majority of lawful votes cast alleging also that the election was invalid for reason of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
In a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice O.O. Oluboyede, the panel held that the quality of witnesses called by the petitioners was not enough to strengthen the petition or sustain it.
While stating that the pleadings did not constitute evidence, Justice Oluboyede further held that the evidence adduced by the petitioners was weak and porous.
The panel also held that the candidate of the Labour Party failed to provide substantial evidence to prove the case of non-compliance of electoral act and violence during the February 25th election.
She accordingly dismissed the petition and upheld the election of Senator Katung as the lawmaker representing Kaduna South Senatorial District.
One of the Counsels to Senator Katung, Zigwai Z. Adamu, told Journalists the tribunal dis justice by affirming the Senator’s election because the petitioner could not adduce credible evidence as contained in their pleadings.
“The petitioner has tried to make the tribunal go into fishing festival, to fish evidence that was never tendered for it. The Tribunal is a court of justice, not a court of emotions but evidence that is before them.
“We thank the Tribunal for upholding the victory of the Kaduna-South Senator Sunday Marshall Katung,” he added.
Meanwhile, fielding questions from Journalists shortly after the ruling, The minority leader in the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Hon. Ali Kalat commanded the tribunal to affirm the victory of Sen. Sunday Marshall Katung.
According to him, the Kaduna-South Senator has been one of the major political players in the region.
“Southern Kaduna has been a PDP region, someone cannot come and contest and election and claim victory overnight,” Kalat concluded.
The judgment was delivered within 30 minutes.
