Court of Appeal upholds Saraki’s election

The election of the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, to represent Kwara Central Senatorial District was yesterday upheld by the Court of Appeal in Ilorin.

The justices, led by Joseph Ikyegh, and supported by Oluwayemisi Williams and Ibrahim Bdliya, in a unanimous decision dismissed all the grounds brought before them by the appellant, Abdulrahaman Abdulrasak.
The court held that Saraki was duly elected during the March 28, 2015 National Assembly elections.

The Presiding Justice, in his judgment, struck out the appeal, citing non-compliance with the stipulated time for filing and incongruous with the case of David Mark as cited by the counsel to the appellant.

The appellant, who was the Peoples Democratic Party’s(PDP) candidate in the election, had challenged Saraki’s election at the lower election petition tribunal, citing irregularities during the polls but lost.

Dissatisfied with the ruling of the tribunal, AbdulRasaq took his case to the appellate court, alleging, among others, that results were collated in some centres and declared before the final announcement of the results.

Reports of experts were brought by the appellant to prove his case but such reports were declared irrelevant, as they were found to had been written almost a year to the election.