Barely six months after coming into power, four state governors are battling to complete their first four-year term after the court invalidated their elections.
The governors affected by the tsunami of sacks include Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, Dauda Lawal of Zamfara State, Abba Yusuf of Kano State and Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau State.
Abdullahi Sule (APC)
The election tribunal in Lafia, Nasarawa State in October declared David Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the lawfully elected governor of the State.
By so doing, the tribunal revoked the declaration of Sule as the winner of the 18 March gubernatorial poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
Sule filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal in Abuja, seeking to overturn the judgement of the lower court.
At the hearing of the matter on 15 November, the court put off the verdict to a date yet to be made public.
Dauda Lawal (PDP)
The Court of Appeal in Abuja declared the Zamfara governorship election of 18 March as inconclusive and ordered INEC to hold a fresh election in Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukyun local government areas.
The governorship election was a hard-fought contest between Lawal of the PDP and Bello Mattawale of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. Lawal won the election with a total of 377,726 votes while the APC candidate had 311,976 votes, according to official results.
Matawalle challenged the results at the election tribunal in Zamfara, but the tribunal, on September 16, ruled in favour of Lawal. On 16 November, the appellate court mandated the electoral body to hold a rerun in three LGAs to determine the rightful winner of the election.
Abba Yusuf (NNPP)
The election tribunal in Kano sacked Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria Peoples Party, NNPP, as governor of the state on 20 September.
The tribunal affirmed Nasiru Gawuna, the candidate of the APC in the election as the duly elected governor of Kano. It ordered the INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Yusuf and present a certificate to Gawuna to validate his election.
Yusuf headed to the Court of Appeal, the last resort to reclaim his mandate but the court on 17 November dismissed the appeal. But the certified true copies of the judgement made public on 21 November contradicts last Friday’s judgement: the document affirmed Yusuf’s election.
Caleb Mutfwang (PDP)
Caleb Mutfwang, governor of Plateau State, is the latest victim of a court-cancelled election.
The Appeal Court annulled his election last Sunday and declared Nentawe Yilwatda of the APC the winner of the March 18 election
The Appeal Court’s verdict contradicts an earlier 22 September ruling by the state’s election tribunal.
Governor Mutfwang, however, is optimistic that the Supreme Court will overrule the judgement.
