Election Tribunal sacks Senator Jibrin Isah, orders rerun in Kogi East

The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lokoja, Kogi State, has sacked Jibrin Isah of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the lawmaker representing Kogi East Senatorial District.

The tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a supplementary election between Jibrin Isah and Victor Adoji of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in 94 polling units with over 59,730 votes.

The Tribunal Chairman, Justice K.A. Orjiako, who delivered the judgement on the petition brought before it by Adoji, agreed with the prayers of the PDP candidate that elections were cancelled in some polling units where the Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVCs) collected were more than the margin of win.

Delivering a unanimous Judgement of the Tribunal, Justice Orjiako, agreed with the submission of the petitioner, “since the PVCs collected in the 94 polling units is 59,730, while the margin of win is 26,922 votes, the Returning Officer ought to have declared the election inconclusive without making a return.

“Consequently, this honourable Tribunal hereby grants the reliefs sought by the Petitioners. We also set aside the Certificate of Return issued to Jibrin Isah.

“The Tribunal hereby also orders INEC to conduct a supplementary election in the affected polling units where the election did not hold or cancelled in order to determine the winner” .

At the Senatorial election, Jibrin Isah had garnered 108,784 votes to beat Victor Adoji who scored 81,867 votes.