Over the course of the week, governorship election petition tribunals delivered decisions that may be regarded as landmarks in all 50 states.Only one governor has been fired by the tribunal thus far. Others had their triumphs acknowledged, at least temporarily.
Both the dominant opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party, and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, won several states.
iGONG remembers that the tribunal dismissed the cases brought before it by the APC and the Labour Party and upheld the PDP's victories in Plateau, Bauchi, Enugu, and Zamfara States last week.
In Plateau, the tribunal upheld Caleb Mutfwang's election as the state's legitimate governor.
The case submitted by the APC and its governorship candidate Nentawe Yiltwatda was denied by a three-member tribunal bench chaired by Justice Sunday because it lacked merit.
In a similar vein, the court upheld Senator Bala Mohammed's election as the legitimate governor of Bauchi State. The three-person panel, led by P.T. Kwahar, gave the verdict.
The plea filed by the APC and its candidate, Sadique Abubakar, a former chief of the air staff, to void Mohammed's second term in office was rejected by the panel.
iGONG also remembers that the tribunal affirmed Peter Mbah's election as governor of Enugu, ensuring that the PDP kept its victory there.
The Labour Party and its candidate, Chijioke Edeoga, had their petitions rejected by a three-member tribunal panel headed by Justice Kudirat Murayo, who insisted that they were unable to provide any evidence to support their claims.
The judiciary in Zamfara State rejected the APC's and its candidate for governor, Bello Matawalle, appeal challenging the designation of Dauda Lawal of the PDP as the victor of the 18 March governorship election.
The tribunal ruled that the APC had not provided sufficient evidence to support its claims that the results from Maradun Local Government had been excluded and that several State wards had not been included in the poll.
On the other hand, the APC retained its victory in Benue State and seized control of Kano State from the New Nigerian Peoples Party, or NNPP.
In Benue, the tribunal rejected the PDP's and Titus Uba's suit disputing the results of the March 18 gubernatorial election, which resulted in Governor Hyacinth Alia winning.
The dismissal of NNPP in Kano State was the most surprising of the recent rulings issued by the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in several states.
As the tribunal removed Governor Yusuf Abba and proclaimed Nasir Gawuna of the APC the victor of the March 18 election, the NNPP lost its lone governorship seat to the ruling party in Kano in what appears to be a strange twist of fate.
Wednesday's judgment was given by the three-judge panel, presided over by Oluyemi Asadebay, reportedly for security reasons. More than 165,663 votes cast in favor of NNPP were ruled illegitimate by the court.
The court removed the invalid votes, noting that the 165,663 ballots were invalid since they were neither stamped nor signed.
According to the tribunal, the petitioner has established the claim that part of the votes were unlawful since the election did not follow the requirements of the Electoral Act of 2022.
According to iGONG, the development in Kano State has intensified tension in Abia State, where the incumbent governor, Alex Otti of the Labour Party, was elected with a majority of the vote. The ruling party is reportedly attempting to annul this election.
According to information obtained, the Abia State Election Petition Tribunal set October 6, 2023, for the delivery of its ruling on the petition contesting the declaration of Mr. Otti as the winner of the March 18 election.
Chief Ikechi Emenike, the APC candidate for governor, had petitioned the court to have Otti fired on claims that he had not resigned from the ruling party before switching to the opposition Labour Party in time for the general elections of 2023.
Otti's name, according to the APC candidate, was not in the Labour Party registration prior to his nomination as the party's candidate for governor in the state.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, the Young Progressives Party, and Okey Ahaiwe, a candidate for the PDP, also signed the petition.
The recent dismissal of three House of Representatives members elected on the Labour Party platform by the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Umuahia may not be unrelated to the apprehension.
According to Mr. Ceekay Igara, the chairman of the Labour Party in Abia State, the ruling party is purportedly doing everything in its power to sabotage Otti's triumph.
He declared, "It's as if APC has bought the court because they revived the case concerning the same document that they had before dismissed when they were rounding up.
Now that that case has been decided by the appeals court, the judges are relying on it.
It's clear that the court has already awarded them all of our seats. They have allotted the opposition seats in the Senate and House of Representatives, with the exception of the governorship.
He did, however, express confidence that the governor would prevail in the legal case.
I believe he will triumph. You cannot shave a man's head in his absence, that much is certain. They are not allowed to make decisions based on anything other than what was presented to them. In the majority of the cases, I was also a witness.
Before the NYSC problem was raised, all of the cases were centered on election-related issues. They can't do anything else, I'm certain of it," he remarked.
In response, the PDP's national publicity secretary, Hon. Debo Ologunagba, told the Daily Post that the party is anticipating the dismissal of Governor Otti.
He claimed that PDP had "presented a good case in Abia and we are expecting the tribunal to deliver a good judgment in our favor."
Debo claimed that the rulings on the PDP's victories in Zamfara, Bauchi, Enugu, and Plateau were consistent with the decisions taken by the electorates during the election.
As you often hear from the party's presidential candidate, we respect the courts and their decisions, so we look forward to their decisions, he said.
"They are consistent with what happened at the voting places on election day.
"We rejoice over that because it reflects the popular desire.