The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has dismissed two separate petitions filed by the Labour Party and the New Nigerian People’s Party against the election of Governor Douye Diri of the People’s Democratic Party and his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudakpo.
The court upheld the findings of the state governorship election tribunal, which dismissed the petitions for lacking merit.
The court held that the petitioners failed to prove allegations of non-qualification, certificate forgery, and other claims against Governor Diri and his deputy according to TheSun.
The court noted that the attachment of alleged forged documents to form EC8 submitted to INEC was a pre-election matter that should not have been brought to the tribunal.
The court also agreed that the petitioners failed to prove the allegations beyond reasonable doubt, as required by law.
The appeals by both the LP and NNPP were dismissed with a cost of N200,000 against the appellants in favour of each set of respondents.