The Court of Appeal sitting in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja on Friday affirmed the election of Uba Sani as the governor of Kaduna state.

A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal while delivering the judgment in favour of Sani held that the gubernatorial election petition tribunal acted in error.

The Appeal Court panel said the tribunal was wrong to have depended on inadmissible evidence to order that a supplementary election should be conducted in 22 polling units of four local government areas (LGAs) where the poll was seen as inconclusive.

“A key witness called by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during the tribunal hearing merely gave hearsay evidence as he was not present when the malpractices he alleged happened,” the court ruled.

“Therefore, the allegations of deduction of votes, stuffing of ballot boxes and mutilation of sensitive electoral materials made by the said witness were born out of hearsay.”

The court further ruled that the tribunal was right to have dismissed the petition of the PDP and its Kaduna state governorship candidate, Isa Ashiru.

The three-member panel of the Court of Appeal also stood on the ground that the petitioners had abandoned their petition after failing to apply for the issuance of a pre-hearing information sheet following the close of pleadings as required by paragraph 18(1) of the first schedule to the Electoral Act 2022.

Ashiru had taken Sani of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to court, challenging the outcome of the Saturday, March 18 governorship election in Kaduna.