The Court of Appeal in Abuja has postponed ruling on an appeal filed by Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against a majority finding by a tribunal that declared his election null and void in favor of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate David Ombugadu.
A three-judge panel convened by Justice Uchechukwu Onyemenam informed the parties involved that the date for ruling will be notified.
During the day’s proceedings, Governor Sule’s counsel, Wole Olanipekun, urged the court to overturn the tribunal’s decision and grant his client’s appeal.
Olanipekun said that the tribunal refused to take their witnesses’ arguments during the tribunal hearing and that data from the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) submitted to the tribunal was simply dumped without being treated as evidence.
Following the adoption of his procedures, Ombugadu and the PDP’s counsel, Kanu Agabi, sought the court to dismiss the appeal against the tribunal verdict, claiming that their evidence was just documentary.
On the topic of BVAS, Agabi stated that it was adequately shown in the tribunal, as required by law, with the printout from the machine exhibited, as opposed to the argument that they were just discarded without being analyzed.
Agabi, who referred the court to the tribunal’s decision, claimed that in delivering judgment, the lower court methodically explained how it arrived at its determination.