By Abel Leonard Nzwanke
The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lafia, Nasarawa State, has upheld the victory of Umaru Tanko Al-Makura of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected senator for Nasarawa South.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Al-Makura winner of the February 2019 National Assembly election after pulling 113,156 votes to defeat his closest opponent and candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP, Senator Sulieman Adokwe who garnered 104,595 votes.
Senator Adokwe not satisfied with the decision of INEC filed a petition at the tribunal challenging the declaration of Al-Makura as the winner.
The presiding judge, delivering judgment in lafia,Justice David Ugoh hold on the view that the petition of Senator Adokwe of the peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were on the basis of ‘hearsay’ evidence of their principal witness, Ayiwulu Baba Ayiwulu.
The tribunal further emphasised that tribunal consider or rely on evidence of persons who did not have a first-hand,and direct interaction with the facts of the issue.
However the tribunal also revealed that “it is undesirable for counsel to appear in a professional capacity in a case in which he is a material witness.”
He noted that despite the manifest failure of the petitioners to prove their petition, Senator Al-Makura’s counsels still led credible evidence to show the weakness of the petitioners’ case and the futility of the court granting their reliefs.
Paradoxicaly, the tribunal held that the election was peacefully conducted in accordance with the Electoral Act, 2010 and the Regulations and Guidelines for the conduct of 2019 elections.
The tribunal also held that since Adokwe and PDP have failed to show credible evidence that they scored higher votes than the votes scored by Senator Al-Makura in the said election, the declaration made by INEC returning officer, is accurate and here by uphold Senator Al-Makura as the winner of the election.
