The National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Jos, Plateau State has affirmed the election of Senator Istifanus Gyang.
In a ruling on Tuesday, the chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Theophilus Nzeugwu, struck out the petition filed by the candidate of the United Progressive Party UPP, Sanusi Inuwa, challenging the victory of the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the Plateau North senatorial district election.
He held that the petition cannot be sustained on the ground that the petitioner failed to prove his case.
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Justice Nzeugwu said the petitioner could not tender any document to show that he was indeed validly nominated to contest for the poll.
In the course of the petition, the national secretary of the UPP was subpoenaed to the Tribunal where he testified that his party sponsored the petitioner for Plateau South and not Plateau North, as seen in the certified true copy of the form UPP submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The Tribunal dismissed the petition of Inuwa and upheld the election of Senator Gyang as the lawmaker representing Plateau North district in the National Assembly.
In his response, the defence counsel, Niri Darong, described the ruling as a welcome development, adding that they have proved that the petitioner has no case against the lawmaker.
The petitioner’s counsel, George Izere, on his part, said the beauty of the matter was that the petitioner has ventilated his grievances and the court has decided.
On whether the petitioner would appeal the judgement, Izere said, “my client would decide that”.
