Court of Appeal verdicts: Ndume, Lawan elections affirmed

By Musa Baba Adamu with agency report

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, yesterday affirmed the election of Sen. Mohammed Ndume and Sen. Kaka Lawan, of Borno South and Central senatorial districts, respectively.
The three-member panel, presided by Justice Biobele Georgewill, held that the two appeals against the lawmakers lacked merit.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had, on Feb. 25, declared Ndume and Lawan as winners of the National Assembly elections in the two senatorial districts.
Dissatisfied with the declaration, Muhammed Kumalia and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenged the election of Lawan, while Kudla Satumari and the PDP filed a petition against Ndume at the state’s election tribunal.
The tribunal dismissed the two petitions.
Not satisfied with the judgements of the tribunal, Kumalia and Satumari lodged appeals before the Court of Appeal, in appeal number CA/G/EP/SEN/BR/7/2023 between Mohammed Umara Kumalia & another Vs. Kaka Shehu Lawan and others, and appeal number: CA/G/EP/SEN/BR/04/2023 between Kula Satumari & another Vs. INEC and others, respectively.
While Yusuf Ali, SAN, represented Kaka Shehu and APC, Johnson Usman, SAN, appeared for INEC and Marcel Oru, SAN, represented Ndume in the two appeals.
The senior lawyers urged the court to dismiss the appeals for lack of merit.
Delivering judgement in the appeals, the Court of Appeal upheld the submissions of the counsel to the respondents that the two appeals lacked merit and dismissed the same while affirming the election of Lawan and Ndume.