The Sokoto Division of the Court of Appeal, in Tuesday, reserved judgment in the appeal filed by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Saidu Umar, against the ruling of the state governorship tribunal.
The tribunal had affirmed Ahmed Aliyu of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election.
However, Umar and the PDP sought the Appeal court’s leave to reverse the tribunal judgment.
The Chairman of the three-member tribunal, Justice Joseph Ekanem, told parties in the suit that they would be informed of the date that the judgment would be delivered.
Appellants’ lawyer, Sunday Ameh (SAN), while arguing his client’s case, faulted the trial tribunal’s findings.
Ameh argued that the trial tribunal was wrong to have rejected the evidence of the subpoenaed witnesses invited by his client, grounds that their written depositions were not filed along with the petition.
He prayed the court to allow the appeal and set aside the judgment of the tribunal.
Lawyers to the respondents – Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Hassan Liman (SAN) and Ibrahim Mohammed urged the court to affirm the tribunal’s judgment, which they argued, was unassailable.
They faulted Ameh’s arguments and prayed the court to dismiss the appeal for being unmeritorious.
Olanipekun noted that the appellants failed to appeal against 11 profound findings of the trial tribunal.
The tribunal had, in its judgement, dismissed the petition by Umar and the PDP on the grounds that the petitioners failed to prove their case.
