Supreme Court affirms Dauda Lawal as Zamfara Governor

Danuda Lawal, a PDP candidate for Zamfara governor, was confirmed by the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court overturned Court of Appeal Abuja’s judgment to declare the March 18, 2023 governorship election inconclusive and order a re-run in three local government districts.

In November, the appellate court overturned Lawal’s election.

In the March 18 governorship election, he defeated APC incumbent Bello Matawalle.

Lawal got 377,726 votes and Matawalle 311,976.

Now a Minister of State for Defence, the APC candidate accused INEC of undermining his election victory by omitting several LGA results.

The Zamfara Election Petitions Tribunal rejected Matawalle’s petition on September 18.

In affirming Lawal’s victory, the tribunal fined Matawalle and the APC N500,000.

Matawalle appealed the lower court’s verdict to the Abuja Court of Appeal.

The three-member appellate court bench led by Justice Oyebisi Folayemi overturned INEC’s governorship election result, giving Matawalle relief.

In three LGAs where polls had not been held or where polling unit results were not counted, Justice Sybil Nwaka directed INEC to hold new elections.

However, the governor appealed to the Supreme Court.