BREAKING: Appeal Court declares Zamfara gov poll inconclusive, orders re-run

Ruling on the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) on Thursday, November 16, 2023, the appellate court declared the pronouncement of Lawal, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, as the winner of the March 18 election as a nullity.

The unanimous judgement by the three-member panel led by Justice Oyebisi Folayemi held that the Zamfara State Election Petitions Tribunal did not consider the appellant's evidence in affirming Lawal's victory.

The court thereby ordered a re-run in three Local Government Areas of the state, including Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukyun.

Reading the lead judgement, Justice Sybil Nwaka ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election in the three LGAs because elections were previously not held there.

A fresh election will also be conducted in polling units whose results were not counted in the final tally.

The court further faulted INEC for relying on information it obtained from its INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal to collate the final result of the governorship election.

The judgement followed an appeal brought before the court by the APC candidate and immediate past governor of the state, Bello Matawalle.

INEC had declared Lawal the winner of the contest, defeating the incumbent in a shocking outcome.

Matawalle later bagged an appointment from President Bola Tinubu as the Minister of State for Defence.