The Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgment on Friday, upheld Nasir Idris’s election as the governor of Kebbi State under the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The appeal by Bande Aminu, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the previous gubernatorial election in the state, was dismissed by a five-member panel of the apex court.

Justice Uwani Abba-Aji, delivering the lead judgment, declared the appeal to be without merit.

The Court of Appeal Abuja had upheld the election of Governor Nasir Idris of Kebbi State.

The three-member panel of the court of appeal, in a unanimous judgment, dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Aminu Bande, for lack of merit.

In a judgment delivered by Ndukwe Anyannwu, the court ruled in favor of the governor and against the PDP and its candidate, resolving all five formulated issues in the governor’s favor. The court emphasized that the appellants failed to substantiate the allegations raised against the governor in their petition.

Furthermore, the court determined that the accusations of testimonial forgery against the state’s deputy governor, Abubakar Tafida, could not be established in accordance with the law. Additionally, it stated that the claims of non-compliance with the Electoral Act provisions during the election lacked merit, as the appellants did not demonstrate how these allegations significantly impacted the overall integrity of the poll.

Consequently, the court upheld the decision of the Kebbi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which, on October 5, affirmed Mr. Idris as the duly elected governor. The three-member tribunal rejected the petition brought forth by the PDP and its governorship candidate, Aminu Bande.

Following the March 18 Kebbi gubernatorial election, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared it inconclusive due to “massive vote cancellation and overvoting” in 20 of the 21 LGAs in the state. Subsequently, a supplementary election was scheduled for April 15, wherein Mr. Idris, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), secured 409,225 votes, surpassing Bande’s 360,940 votes.

Despite Bande and his party’s rejection of the result, filing a petition alleging over-voting in some polling units and questioning Mr. Idris’s eligibility, the tribunal, chaired by Ofem Ofem, found the petitioners failed to conclusively prove that the deputy governor presented a fake certificate to INEC. The tribunal concluded that the testimonial in question was legitimately signed and issued in 1982 by the principal of Sultan Abubakar College, Sokoto.

Regarding the alleged over-voting, Mr. Ofem noted irregularities in only nine out of the 59 questioned polling units. However, he clarified that the deduction of votes from these units would not impact the margin between the election winner and the first runner-up. The tribunal found no substantial evidence to support claims of over-voting and irregularities in other polling units.