Zamfara: Tribunal Affirms Governor Matawalle’s Victory

The Zamfara State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, on Monday dismissed a petition seeking to unseat Governor Bello Mutawalle.

The petition was filed by Muhammed Takori of the Advanced People’s Democratic Alliance (APDA) against Mr Mattawalle, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Takori and APDA in the petition prayed the tribunal to nullify the emergency of Mutawalle as governor on the ground that he did not score two-thirds of the votes cast in the local government areas of the state as required by law.

Petitioners also queries the declaration of substantial votes cast on the election day as waste.

But delivering judgment in the petition, the Tribunal headed by Hon. Justice Binta Zubair held that the petition was un-meritorious in view of the Supreme Court pronouncement of May 24, 2019.

Zubairu held that by implication, the votes cast for Mutawalle and his party, the PDP, are the lawful votes as far as the March 9, governorship election in Zamfara state is concerned.

The Tribunal disagreed with the petitioner that Mutawalle did not win votes in two-third of the local government areas of Zamfara state adding that the petitioners wrongly predicated his argument on the votes already declared as waste by the apex court