Supreme Court Affirms PDP’s Dauda Lawal As Zamfara Governor, Dismisses Matawalle’s Petition

The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the election of Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the governor of Zamfara State.

Regarding the allegation of over-voting, the apex court held that the Independent National Electoral Coomission (INEC) failed to provide the “voter register, polling unit officer report, and testimony of people who were present at the polling unit”.

The apex court faulted the judgement of the Appeal Court but affirmed the judgement of the election petition tribunal in the state, saying that the petitioner, Bello Matawalle failed to prove his allegations.

According to Matawale, INEC subverted his victory at the poll by failing to include the results of some wards.

Last November, the Appeal Court nullified the election of Lawal.

Lawal was declared the winner of the March 18 governorship election by INEC, beating the incumbent, Matawalle of the APC.

Lawal polled a total of 377,726 votes while Matawalle got 311,976 votes.

Matawalle is the current Minister of State for Defence.

Last September, the Zamfara Election Petitions Tribunal upheld Lawal’s victory and awarded a fine of N500,000 against the petitioners.