On Wednesday, the Supreme Court denied an appeal filed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Dr. Umar Ardo, the party’s nominee for governor, contesting Ahmadu Fintiri’s appointment to the position of governor of Adamawa State.
The supreme court dismissed the appeal with the case number SC/CV/1219/2023 due to lack of merit.
After receiving 6,000 votes, the SDP and its candidate opposed Fintiri’s declaration and that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which received over 430,000 votes in the election held on March 18, 2023.
The SDP and Ardo were upset that the election was not held in a way that substantially adhered to the Electoral Act 2022’s requirements.
During the proceedings on Wednesday, Sylvester Imhanobe, the appellants’ counsel, was called upon to provide evidence of the election’s noncompliance with the Electoral Act.
After learning of the Supreme Court’s hint, the appellants dropped their appeal, claiming it was unmeritorious.
The appeal against the appellants was dismissed without any costs by Justice John Inyang Okoro, who presided over a panel of five Justices of the Court.
Subsequently, the highest court upheld Fintiri’s election as the legitimately elected and duly proclaimed governor of Adamawa State.
After Fintiri, the PDP candidate, was proclaimed the winner of the election, Ardo and his party filed a petition before the Adamawa Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
The petitioners had requested that Fintiri’s election be void due to grave violations of the Electoral Act, unethical behavior, threats, and violence during the voting process.
But Theodora Uloho, the tribunal’s chair, rejected the petition on the grounds that it was improperly submitted and incompetent.