The Supreme Court affirmed the election victory of Governor Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State on Friday.
The Apex Court overturned the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal’s decision on November 16, 2023, declaring the March 18 governorship election in the state inconclusive.
It held that Lawal, the Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate, received the majority of legitimate votes and was correctly declared the victor of the gubernatorial contest by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Supreme Court branded the appeal court’s ruling as “perverse” in its main judgement, issued by Justice Emmanuel Agim.
It upheld the previous ruling of the Zamfara State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which confirmed Lawal’s election victory.
It should be noted that INEC said that Governor Lawal of the PDP received 377,726 votes, defeating the state’s immediate prior governor and current Minister of State for Defence, Bello Matawalle, who received 311,976 votes.
cc: Vanguard Ng
