ACN drags Nyako to election tribunal

The mandate of the Adamawa people is still hanging in the air, Markus Gundiri, Action Congress of Nigeria governorship candidate for the February 4 Adamawa State governorship election, said Friday after his party formally appealed against the disputed election before the state’s governorship election tribunal.

The ACN, which rejected the return of Mr. Murtala Nyako as governor, is seeking, among other reliefs, the nullification of result in some specific wards units/ polling booths in Fufore, Mahia, Mayo-Belwa, Yola South, Girei, Madagali, Numan and Demsa local government areas.

Furthermore, it is seeking an order nullifying the return of Murtala Nyako, the first respondent, and Bala Ngillari, second respondent, as governor and deputy governor respectively.

The party also wants the tribunal to declare as duly elected, Markus Gundiri and Abdulrazak Namdas, as governor and deputy governor of Adamawa state respectively, having scored the majority of “total number of lawful votes cast in the said election”.

Mr Gundiri, in an address after signing the election petition papers at the tribunal’s office, urged the court to dispense justice, saying he was in court to get justice over the mandate of the Adamawa people which he said was “still hanging”.

Mr. Gundiri, who described the judiciary as the last hope of the masses, linked the festering insecurity problems in the country to the “injustice in the land”.

“Our prayer is, we want justice to be done,” Mr Gundiri said, pointing out that it was the only way to quell the resort to violence by the populace.

He also debunked claims that his party was enlisting the support of the Congress for Progressive Change in its case.

The CPC candidate, Buba Marwa, had rejected the governorship election but said he had no plans to seek redress in court and would rather leave “his case in the hands of God”.