By ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi-
The Legal Adviser of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Bauchi State, Bar. Rabo Shipi, has expressed satisfaction and happiness, over the affirmation of Bala Mohammed as the validly elected Governor of the State in the March 18th, 2023 gubernatorial polls, by the Supreme Court.
NATIONAL ACCORD had reported that following the declaration of Mohammed as winner of the gubernatorial election in Bauchi State by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Sadiq Abubakar, approached the governorship election petition tribunal sitting in the State challenging the victory.
Chairman of the three-man panel, P T. Kwahar, in his judgment, affirmed the victory of Bala Mohammed, a former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.
But not satisfied with the tribunal’s judgment, Abubakar, a former Chief of Staff, filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal challenging the decision of the lower court.
Similarly, a judgment by the three-man panel of the Appellate Court, led by Justice Nwaoma Chidi Uwa in a unanimous judgment, dismissed the appeal filed by APC’s candidate, and affirmed the victory of Mohammed.
Following the judgements the two lower courts which were not in his favour, he (Abubakar) still went to the Supreme Court to seek redress.
But reading the lead judgment on Friday, Justice Ibrahim Saulawa resolved all six issues against the appellant and held that the appeal was devoid of merit.
Bauchi PDP legal adviser, Bar. Rabo Shipi
Reacting to the verdict in a telephone conversation with our Correspondent, Shipi commended the judiciary for delivering a fair judgement.
He said that a person cannot lose an election at the polling unit expect to get legitimacy at the court.
“We are happy with all the judgements from the Tribunal to the Supreme Court and we are saying that election is a process involving voting and declaring a winner. It is the votes of the people that give legitimacy to the winner not the Court. So, you cannot lose an election woefully and come and you come to the court and expect legitimacy.
“We are happy with what the Courts have done and the victory is for the people of Bauchi State, the PDP and the Governor,” he said.
Shipi described the process to getting the final victory at the Supreme as a hectic journey.
According to him, all the processes were very transparent from the Tribunal to the Supreme Court saying that they are so happy with the judiciary because it had nothing to hide.
“All the decisions of the three courts were unanimous. The three Judges at the Tribunal were unanimous in their judgement, all the three Judges of the Appeal Court were unanimous and the Justices of the Supreme court, all the seven of them, were also unanimous in their judgement.
“But I can you that it was not an easy process at all, sincerely speaking. I can stay here in Abuja for one week without seeing my family, sometimes weeks and even months. Throughout the exercises, from March till this day, we didn’t have much sleep. We did a lot of work to achieve this success, we worked a lot.
“As the coordinator of the legal team, I’ll tell you that all the SANs and the other lawyers worked tirelessly to achieve this success.
“I want to congratulate the people of Bauchi State because their voted for His Excellency and our party overwhelmingly and their votes have been affirmed by the courts. We want to assure them that the legitimacy they gave us, we will not take it for granted and we will make them happy,” he said.
The Legal Adviser counselled the opposition APC in the State, to put its house in order and address its internal issues if it wants to give the ruling PDP a stiff competition in future elections.
He said: “I will encourage the APC to get their house in order because elections are not done in court, elections are held at polling units. They should keep their house in order if the want to contest again in 2027 so that they can give us a stiff competition not going to the court.”
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