JUST IN: Appeal court affirms Abba Moro’s election

The Court of Appeal in Makurdi Judicial Division, on Tuesday, affirmed the election of Comrade Abba Moro as the Senator representing Benue South Senatorial district.

Presiding Judge, Justice Jumai Sankey, upheld the earlier judgment of the National/State Election Petition Tribunal, which ruled in favour of Moro, who was dragged to the court by his opponent, Chief Stephen Lawani of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Justice Sankey dismissed the appeal in favour of Moro of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on grounds that it was an academic exercise.

The appeal court therefore, awarded the sum of N200, 000 against the appellants.

Our correspondent reports that the tribunal, headed by Justice A A Adeleye, had earlier in September dismissed the petition against Moro on all grounds, stressing that the petitioners failed completely to prove their case against reasonable doubts.

The tribunal held that most of the evidence presented by the petitioners were based on “hear say” which was not tenable in law.

Adeleye also averred that the petitioner and his party, APC, equally failed to prove allegation of electoral fraud as all witnesses could not establish non compliance with electoral regulations.