Votes recount: Ashiru loses to El-Rufa’i at election Tribunal

The Kaduna State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on
Tuesday struck out the motion of Peoples Democratic Party seeking
for a recount of votes cast in the governorship election in the
state, for lack of merit.

Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Ibrahim Bako, while ruling on
the motion, said the tribunal has a timeline of only 180 days
within which to complete its assignment and would not accommodate
the motion seeking for the recount of the votes.

The tribunal also refused the application for amendment of the
motion that sought to narrow the votes recount exercise to only 12
local government areas of the state.

The News Agency of Nigeria recalled that the motion was brought
before the tribunal by the PDP and its governorship candidate in
the March 9 election, Alhaji Isa Ashiru.

Counsel to both PDP and Ashiru, Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) had on May
25, applied to for the amendment of the motion for the votes
recounts to be done in Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Igabi, Birnin
Gwari, Giwa, Zaria, Sabon Gari, Makarfi, Kudan, Kubau, Soba and
Ikara local government areas, mostly won by the APC.

However, the Tribunal chairman ruled that the motion be struck
out, thus ending the pre-hearing session of the petition.

He then adjourned to June 15 to begin hearing in the main
petition filed by the PDP and Ashiru.

Meanwhile, Counsel to Malam Nasiru El-Rufai, Abdulhakeem
Mustapha, that of the All Progressives Congress’, Lawal Bawa and
Aliyu Umar of Independent National Electoral Commission, who had
objected to the motion, said they were happy with the ruling.

They said the verdict was a reflection of the position of the
law and commended the tribunal for ruling in their favor.

The counsel told newsmen in separate interviews at the end of
the sitting that they were ready for the hearing in the main suit
scheduled to begin on June 15.

Mustapha, the counsel to El-Rufai, said that they were ready to
defend the re-election of the Governor in the 2019 poll, insisting
that the mandate was genuinely given to the governor by the
majority of voters in the state.

According to him, the defence would provide all needed documents
and evidence to defend the mandate given to El-Rufai before the
Tribunal.

Meanwhile, Elisha Kura, Counsel to the PDP, told newsmen that
the party would challenge the tribunal’s ruling in the Appeal Court
even as the tribunal begins hearing the main petition.

“We are going to study the ruling and we have already had a
perception about the case, but it has to be challenged.

“For the Tribunal to say that it has no power to order for a
ballot recount is strange because other Tribunals had done it
before.

“For them to assume that there is no place in the Electoral Act
that there is no specific provision that talks about the recount is
strange,“ Kura said.

The counsel said while the party would continue with its
petition, it would seek further interpretation of the ruling of the
tribunal against the motion for the recount of votes at the Court
of Appeal.

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