Haruna loses Senate race at tribunal

THE National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Yola, has sealed the hope of former Adamawa State Governor Mr. Boni Haruna, of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to be in Senate.The tribunal upheld the election of Senator Jibrilla Bindow, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).In the ruling that lasted for two hours 38 minutes, the tribunal Chairman, Justice Chukwuemeka Ignatus, said the petitioner(Haruna) failed to prove his allegations as the winner of the poll beyond reasonable doubt.The tribunal declared that the petitioner could not prove the allegations that elections were not conducted in Mijilu ward inMubi-North Council.The tribunal boss stated that both documented and oral evidence before it showed that elections took place in Mijilu ward with the exception of six polling units.Chukwuemeka held that the total votes registered in the six polling units put together could not invalidate the election result in the Northern Senatorial Zone.Haruna had asked the tribunal to declare him the winner of the April 2011 election because of alleged irregularities in the exercise.However, the PDP candidate for the House of Representative for Mubi-South, Mubi-North/Maiha, Alhaji Sajoh Gella, was not lucky as the tribunal upheld the victory of the Congress for ProgressiveChange (CPC) candidate Alhaji Abubakar Madawaki Wambai.The tribunal stated that the declaration of Wambai as winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was valid and with the provisions of the 1999 constitution and the 2010 (amended) Electoral Act.
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