The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the elections of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State and Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State.
The appeal court had ruled against the election tribunal in Oyo which dismissed a petition by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Adebayo Adelabu.
The appeal court in a majority decision said the tribunal was wrong to have dismissed APC petition. It, however, refused to sack Makinde as Oyo governor as a minority member of the court ruled in favour of Makinde.
The Supreme Court, however, on Wednesday upturned the majority decision of the appeal court, ruling that it lacked merit.
The court further ruled that the minority decision of the Court of Appeal was more deserving of consideration.
Also, the apex court in a unanimous decision said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in Kaduna, Isah Ashiru, failed to prove the issues raised in their allegations and subsequently dismissed the petition against El-Rufai’s victory.
The Court of Appeal and the Kaduna State tribunal had both affirmed El-Rufai’s election.
El-Rufai won the election with 1, 045, 427 votes while his closest challenger, Ashiru, polled over 200,000 votes.
