The Elections Petitions Tribunal sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa state has dismissed the petition filed by a former Minister of Information and governorship candidate of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in the April 11 governorship election, Labaran Maku, for lack of merit.
Head of the Tribunal, Justice Halima Shammaki, who gave the judgement cited that the petitioner failed to prove his allegations of electoral malpractices beyond reasonable doubt.
“The petitioner failed to provide credible evidence where he alleged that the election was marred with violence in some places, unlawful declaration of votes, inflation of figures, mutilation and over voting.” Justice Shammaki added
He stressed that “That the petitioner could not prove beyond reasonable doubt where he alleged that card readers were not used in some polling units, he also failed to sort out ballot papers tendered before the tribunal. It was not the business of the tribunal to sort them out for the petitioner.”
Commenting on the judgement, Maku's running mate, Alhaji Ibrahim Abu, said that the party would head for the Appeal Court to challenge the verdict of the tribunal adding that the petitioner were not satisfied with the judgment, insisting that the party was robbed.