Court upholds the re-election of Gombe Governor Inuwa,dismisses PDP appeal.

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the Gombe State Governorship Election Tribunal’s decision to dismiss the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the re-election of All Progressives Congress Governor Inuwa Yahaya.

The Court concurred with the Tribunal’s decision on Thursday that the PDP’s argument lacked merit.

Governor Yahaya of the APC was declared the winner of the governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 18.

According to reports, Muhammad Jibrin Barde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) received 233,131 votes.

Barde had approached the Tribunal, claiming that the governor’s election did not follow the provisions of the Electoral Act.

His lawyers claimed that the PDP candidate received the majority of the valid votes cast during the election, notwithstanding allegations of multiple thumbprinting and ballot box stuffing in nine local government areas of the state in favour of Governor Inuwa Yahaya.

However, the tribunal’s three-member panel denied the PDP’s plea for lack of merit.

The tribunal also threw out the witnesses’ testimony and materials from the PDP (INEC forms) because they were unfounded.