Court Dismisses Suit Challenging Atiku Bagudu’s Election As Kebbi Governor

Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has dismissed a suit challenging the election of Senator Atiku Bagudu as the governor of Kebbi State.

Delivering a ruling on the matter on Friday, Justice Ahmed Mohammed dismissed the suit for lacking in merit.

The trial judge held that the plaintiff did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that the governor was not qualified to run for office and that he lied under oath.

Bagudu was elected governor on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 general elections which saw the APC takeover power at the centre.

The candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Major-General Bello Sarkin-Yaki, in the poll had filed the originating summons before the court.

General Sarkin-Yaki asked the court to hold that Governor Bagudu was not qualified to contest the election because he did not possess the requisite academic qualification to contest.

He had also claimed that the governor made a false declaration on the form he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Governor Bagudu had in 2008 won the senatorial by-election for Kebbi Central after Senator Adamu Aliero was appointed Minister of the Federal Capital Territory.

He later ran successfully for re-election on the platform of PDP in the 2011 general elections.