The Governorship election petition Tribumal. sitting in Bauchi state has affirmed the victory of Senator Bala Abdulladir Muhammed as the elected governor of the state.
While passing judgment, all the three Judges of the tribunal under the leadership of P.T Kwahar dismissed the demand of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Sadique Baba Abubakar, the former Chief of Air Staff to challenge the re-election of Governor for the second term
The judges said that after listening to the statements of all the parties, they did not find enough evidence to cancel the election that was conducted in a peaceful manner and it was in substantial compliancr to the rules of the election.
In March, the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) announced that Governor Bala Mohammed, the PDP candidate, won 525,280 votes, defeating his opponent and the APC candidate, Sadique Baba Abubakar, who won 432,272 votes.
Earlier, after the election results were announced, Sadiq and the APC contested the election results in the election petition tribunal
The plaintiffs alleged that all the necessary rules were not followed when the election was held, they alleged that the election were rigged, there was cancelation and corrrctions on the elections result sheets.
They alleged that the election was dontnot in compliance with the electoral laws for the year 2022. They allege thatvsome of the results sheets were altered.
They also suspect that in some places, the voter identification machine that is BVAS was not used.
The security forces tightened the security measures while delivering the judgement, and not all journalists were allowed to enter the court except for four mediums accredited by theTribunsl.
When the journalists reached the last gate into the compound after crossing four checkpoints, they were told that the Tribunsl had ordered that journalists should not be allowed to enter.
All the efforts made to discuss with them to allow other journalists to enter failed.
Speaking after he received the news from the tribunal, Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Muhammed.promised to lead a leadership full of justice and fear of God by carrying out the development of Bauchi state.
He alencouraged his opponents to be patient and embrace fate and come and work together for the development of Bauchi state. All the efforts to Speak with leadership of APC or media team of Air Marshal.Sadique failed at the time of filing this report.
A senior official in APC gubernatorial campaign media team who doesnt want his name out because he was not authorised to speak said they will make their position known after consultatiins with stake holders and after they studied the judgement.
