By Musa Baba Adamu
The Gombe State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal has upheld the election of Governor Inuwa Yahaya of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the March gubernatorial 18 poll.
The tribunal led by Justice S.B Belgore dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate, Mohammed Barde, for lacking in merit.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Inuwa the winner of the poll.
But the PDP candidate who was not satisfied with the outcome of the election, approached the court to nullify the governor’s victory, alleging that the election was marred by irregularities, including vote-buying.
Ruling on the petition, the tribunal declared that the allegations were baseless, stating that the petitioners failed to prove the alleged election malpractices.
The tribunal, as a result, struck out the petition.
The court also struck out a petition filed by the African Democratic Congress, ADC, against the election of Governor Yahaya and his deputy, Manasseh Jatau.
The ADC’s petition was based on alleged discrepancies in names on the certificates submitted to INEC by the deputy governor.
The petition was, however, dismissed on the grounds that the case was a pre-election matter.
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