The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Yola, Adamawa State, has affirmed Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri as the governor of the state.
The tribunal upheld the election while dismissing the petition filed by Dr. Umar Ardo of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
Ardo had challenged the outcome of the March 18 election and the April 18 declaration of Fintiri as the winner following the April 16 supplementary election.
The tribunal, led by Justice Theodore Uloho, dismissed the petition as “incompetent, defective, incongruous and not properly instituted before the tribunal.”
She also held that the petitioners were not certain about what they wanted and that the allegation of corrupt practices must be proven with cogent and credible evidence, which the petitioners failed to do.
Reacting to the judgment, Adamawa State deputy governor, Prof. Kaletapwa Farauta, declared it as a “victory for Adamawa State”.
On his part, the counsel for the petitioner, Sylvester Emanube, faulted parts of the judgement, saying, “There are many decisions that were made excellent, there are some that we think we have to look at again; particularly the ones that the Court of Appeal had made decisions on, which were also decided today.”
Meanwhile, the tribunal has awarded the sum of N200,000 in favour of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th respondents, which include the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Fintiri.
