The FCT Area Council Election Petition Tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by Mr Aminu Malumfashi of the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), challenging the March 9 Bwari Ward 10 Councillorship election.
Malumfashi, dragged the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) before the tribunal alleging that the commission omitted his party logo in the ballot paper used for the election.
The petitioner argued that he was lawfully nominated by his party and that INEC had no reason to exclude his party logo from the ballot papers used for the election
Other respondents in the petition are the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the returned winner of the election, Mr Abubakar Suleiman.
The petitioner had called for a fresh election saying that, if INEC had included his party logo on the ballot paper used for the election, he would have won the election.
Delivering the judgment, Justice Samuel Idhiarhi, who led other two members, held that the petitioner failed to show to the tribunal that he was validly nominated by his party.
The judge dismissed the petition and said that the petitioner presented a shortcoming petition and that he fails to prove to the tribunal his nomination by his party.
“The first petitioner merely obtained the nomination form, filed it and returned it back, he did not follow it up; he also admitted during cross examination that he did not know that candidates’ names were published few days to election.
“The petitioner has also said that he did not know if his name was among those published by INEC before the election, officials of the 2nd (his party) petitioner were not called to testify to this petition.
“The petitioner and his party did not create necessary foundation to justify their petition, names of candidate is a key component before the conduct of an election,” he said.
The judge also said that even though the list of candidates for the election was not tendered before the tribunal, the three witnesses produced by the petitioner have testified that the petitioner name was excluded from INEC list.
The Judge who cited different authorities also said that the petitioner relied on the strength of the respondent’s argument instead of relying on his own and lay the necessary foundation to justify his petition.
