Tribunal dismisses CPC petition

Election Tribunal dismisses petition against the re-election of Kebbi state governor, Saidu Dakingari

By Sani Tukur

 

The Kebbi State Governorship Election Tribunal has dismissed the petition brought by the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) against the re-election of Governor Saidu Dakingari of the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP).

The CPC had asked the election tribunal to declare the election of Mr. Dakingari as the Kebbi governor illegal, on the grounds that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to postpone the re-election date to allow opposition parties field a different candidate.

On February 24, the Supreme Court removed Mr. Dakingari as the Kebbi state governor and ordered a re-election fixed at March 31.

However, few days to the election, the governorship candidates of the major opposition parties in the state- the CPC and the Action Congress of Nigeria- withdrew from the race and defected to the PDP. This left the opposition with no candidate for the re-election

The CPC requested the INEC to postpone the election to enable the party field another candidate; a request, the electoral umpire rejected.

After the election in which Mr. Dakingari basically ran against himself, the CPC asked the election tribunal to declare the election of Mr. Dakingari illegal, because INEC refused to postpone the election to allow the party field another candidate.

The opposition party has the option of challenging the ruling at the Court of Appeal.