The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Friday, affirmed the election of the member of the House of Representatives for Askira-Uba/Hawul Federal Constituency of Borno State, Midala Balami.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Balami the poll winner after garnering 28,820 votes to defeat his closest opponent, Tarfaya Asarya of the All Progressives Congress, who polled a total of 25,383 votes.
Asarya challenged the result at the tribunal and held that Balami was not a valid candidate in the election.
According to him, the primary election the PDP conducted, which produced Balami as its candidate, was done in breach of an order of the Supreme Court.
He held that the apex court nullified a previous primary poll the PDP held in the constituency, which initially produced Adamu Yerima as its candidate, and ordered a fresh one to be conducted within 14 days.
He claimed that the fresh primary poll that eventually led to the emergence of Balami as a candidate for the election was done outside the 14 days that the Supreme Court ordered.
However, in a unanimous decision on August 25, the three-member panel tribunal dismissed the petition.
The tribunal held that it lacked the requisite jurisdiction to entertain an issue bordering on the nomination of a candidate by a political party.
Dissatisfied by the verdict, the APC candidate asked the appellate court to set aside the judgment.
Delivering its judgment on Friday, the appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, dismissed an appeal that was brought before it.
The court held that it found no reason to set aside the judgment of the Borno State National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, which affirmed the PDP candidate as the valid winner of the election.
The appellate court panel led by Justice Chioma Nwosu-Iheme held that though the issue of eligibility of a candidate is both a pre and post-election matter, the appellants chose the wrong venue to ventilate their grievances.
