Safiu Kehinde
In a legal twist of fate, the Supreme Court has overturned the verdict of the Court of Appeal on Zamfara state gubernatorial poll, declaring Lawal Dauda as the winner of the election.
Having carpeted the Court of Appeals decision over lack of “evidential foundation”, Emmanuel Agbim who delivered the lead decision of the apex court affirmed upheld the declaration of PDP’s gubernatorial candidate, Lawal Dauda, as the elected governor of Zamfara State.
“The judgement of the Court of Appeal delivered in November is set aside. The order setting aside the appellant’s election is set aside. And the election of the Appellant is upheld.” Mr Agim rules.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had, in March 2023, declared Lawal as the winner of the Zamfara governorship election with 377,726 votes.
This did not suffice with Bello Matawalle, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who polled 311,976 votes, as he challenged the outcome of the poll.
According to report, Matawalle, now minister of state for defence, had accused INEC of subverting his victory at the poll by failing to include the results of some wards.