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Tribunal affirms election of Ismaila Modibo as NASS member

By Uthman Yawa-Siraja

The National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in the Minna High Court complex on Monday dismissed the petition filed against the election of Ismaila Musa Modibo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by Abdullahi Mohammed Rico of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Abdullahi Rico filed the petition challenging the election of Ismaila Modibo during the February 25 Presidential and National Assembly Election to represent Munya, Rafi, and Shiroro Federal Constituencies on the ground that the respondent did not win the majority of votes cast and that it was marred with irregularities and overvoting.

He further alledged that the respondent did not obtain the requisite secondary school certificate from Government Secondary School (GSS) Tegina and also did not have a primary school certificate as claimed, requesting that the tribunal return him as the rightful winner of the election, having sufficiently qualified to contest the election.

He further alleged that the election of the respondent did not comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022 as the respondent did not qualify to contest the election as required by the provisions of the Act.

During the pre-hearing trial of the petition, all the witnesses and evidence brought to the tribunal were all assigned as exhibits.

Also, three witnesses were subpoenaed by the tribunal, among them the principal of Government Secondary School (GSS) Tegina and the headmistress of Central Primary School Tegina, who all testified under cross-examination that the respondent completed and obtained his first school leaving certificate from Central Primary School, Tegina, as well as the testimonial issued to the respondent by the principal.

Delivering judgement after reviewing all the submissions and evidence, as well as the exhibits and the tesmonies of all the counsel in the matter, the chairman of the three-member tribunal, Justice Godspower Aguma averred that the petitioner failed to prove all his allegations as contained in his petition, and the petition was dismissed for lack of merit.

Speaking with journalists shortly after the judgement, Barrister Chris Osuagu described the judgement as a demonstration that the respondent was duly elected by the people of Munya, Rafi, and Shiroro Federal Constituencies at the February 25 National Assembly Election.

He said all the grounds sought by the petitioner could not be proved, and "even his own witnesses testified against him to tell you that the petitioner has failed in proving all the allegations he brought to the tribunal".

He appealed to politicians to always imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship when accepting defeat in an election.