By ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi –
The re-election of Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, has been upheld by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal headed by its Chairman, P. T. Kwahar.
Kwahar who led two other members of the Panel, said that the petitioners had rejected the results of the election announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in some polling units in Dambam, Ningi, Alkaleri, Dass, Ganjuwa, Zaki, Itas-Gadau, Toro, Alkaleri, Bauchi, Tafawa Balewa, and Bauchi Local Government Areas of Bauchi State.
However, he said that the petitioners failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt with tangible evidence that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation Systems were truly manipulated in those polling units cited.
According to him, the witnesses brought by the petitioners presented evidence based on hearsay as they were not present at the polling units stressing that they did not demonstrate enough to show that the results were mutilated, manipulated or tampered with as claimed.
Kwahar said that the petitioners have failed to establish beyond reasonable doubt that the All Progressives Congress candidate won the election saying therefore, that: “The election of the 18th of March 2023 was conducted in total compliance with the electoral act and the petition is hereby dismissed.
“Consequently, the return of the second respondent as the truly elected Governor of Bauchi state by the first respondent in the conduct of the governorship election of the 18th of March, 2023 is hereby affirmed.”
Recall that INEC had declared Governor Mohammed, the winner of the election with 525,280 votes to defeat his closest rival, Sadique Abubakar, a retired Chief of Air Staff, of the APC who polled 432,272 votes.
But the APC and its candidate filed a suit at the tribunal challenging the declaration of Mohammed which returned him as Governor for a second term arguing that there was non-compliance to the electoral act, electoral irregularities as well as bypass of the B-VAS machines in some polling units.
They also said that there was suppression of votes, inflation and deflation of scores and that the winner, Mohammed was not duly elected by the majority of the voters across the 20 Local Government Areas of the State.
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