Return Me As The Winner Of Wase Federal Constituency Election And Sack Hon.Idris Maje- Hon. Ibrahim Bawa (SAN)
Yakubu Busari
Following weeks of rigorous proceedings that saw the peak of petitioners, Hon. Ibrahim Bawa(SAN) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) by calling several witnesses including subpoenaed witnesses from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and experts in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to testify who were in addition to copious documentary evidence were presented in their efforts to establish their facts.
The Trial Tribunal sitting on the National Assembly Election Petition for Plateau State seats in Jos, came to an end on Saturday, the 22nd day of July 2023.
Having convinced that they have proven their petition beyond any reasonable doubt because of the quality of the evidence they deposited before the Tribunal, the petitioners through their Counsel, Sharafa Yusuff expressed confidence that they would get justice from the Tribunal.
Therefore, Honourable Justice Bello Muhammad led the trial Tribunal slated the 8th, 9th and 10th days of August 2023 for Ahmed Idris, the All-Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to open defence against the petitioners.
Hon. Ibrahim Bawa (SAN) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) dragged the respondents before Tribunal, seeking the nullification of the declaration of the first and the second respondents as winners of the 2023 Elections for Wase Federal Constituency by the Third respondent, INEC.
The petitioners also urged the Court to declare him and the party PDP winner of the said Elections having scored the highest number of legitimate votes cast in the elections and to order the Third respondent to issue a certificate of return to the first petitioner, Hon. Bawa (SAN).
Closure of the petitioners’ case will pave the way for the respondents to open and possibly close their defence on the next adjourned dates to further pave the way for the adoption of final written addresses in the matter.
The petitioners rounded up their case by tendering remaining voter registers of some polling units from electoral wards where electoral frauds were allegedly perpetrated during the said 2023 Elections.
The documents which were all admitted in evidence by the Tribunal were marked as exhibits in the matter.
With this development, Counsel to the petitioners, Sharafa Yusuff applied to close their case having successfully tendered the remaining documents. Yusuff maintains that they are satisfied with the way they had prosecuted their case adding that with the quality of evidence they put before the court, they believe, they established their case beyond any reasonable doubt and they are good to go.
Counsel to the respondents informed the court that they would make their comments on the exhibits tendered by the petitioners in their final written addresses.
They did not also object to the petitioners’ application to close their case. They instead, expressed readiness to open and close their defences within the stipulated time.
Justice Bello Muhammad led Three-Man Panel and adjourned the matter to the 8th, 9th and 10th days of August 2023 for Ahmed Idris; the All Progressives Congress and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to open their defence in the matter.
