The Niger State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Minna, has sacked the son of the former Information Minister, Prof. Jerry Gana from the 10th House of Representatives.
Rep. Joshua Audu Gana flew the flag of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), for Ethe Dati/Lavun/Mokwa Federal Constituency of Niger State, in the February 25 National Assembly elections.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the elections, the APC and its candidate, Abdullahi Gbatamagi, through their Counsel, Johnson Usman (SAN), challenged the declaration of Gana as the winner.
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According to the APC’s Gbatamagi petition, the election was invalid due to “non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 in that the margin of win was less than the permanent voter cards (PVCs) collected in the polling units where elections did not hold or were cancelled.”
Delivering its verdict on Monday, the three-member tribunal, chaired by Justice Sylvester Godspower, agreed with Usman’s submissions and proceeded to invalidate votes in the 26 polling units of the federal constituency, thereby reducing the votes of Gana to 46,494 votes, while that of Gbatamagi now stands at 39,159 votes, leaving the Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs) collected in the affected polling units at 14,411.
To this end, the tribunal declared a nullity of the Certificate of Return issued by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) to Joshua Gana of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), and ordered the electoral body to conduct a supplementary election in the twenty-six (26) polling units within ninety (90) days of the judgment, to determine the actual winner of the elections.
