BREAKING: PDP Loses As Supreme Court Affirms Gombe Governor’s Re-Election

The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the People’s Democratic party (PDP) and its candidate, Muhammad Jibrin, against the re-election of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had affirmed the judgment of the Gombe State Governorship Election Tribunal which dismissed the petition filed by the PDP for lacking in merit.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 18 announced Yahaya of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the guber poll with 342,821 votes.

Barde of the PDP was said to have scored 233,131.

But the PDP candidate approached the lower courts, claiming that Yakubu’s declaration did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

Barde’s lawyers maintained that the PDP candidate scored majority of the lawful votes cast during the poll, adding that multiple thumb printing and ballot box stuffing took place in nine local government areas of the state in favour of Governor Yahaya.

But the three-man panel of the tribunal chaired by Justice S.B. Belgore and the appeal court dismissed the PDP application for lacking merit.

At the Supreme Court, Justice Kudirat Kekere-Eku dismissed the PDP case while affirming the election of the governor.