We ‘ll remain focus on developing Zamfara, in spite of Appeal Court ruling- Lawal

Gov. Dauda Lawal of Zamfara has pledged to remain focused in his bid to execute development projects in the state, in spite of the Appeal Court judgement that declared the March 18 election inconclusive.

Lawal said this when he addressed a group of party faithful in Gusau shortly after his return from Abuja.

“We have nothing to worry about; we know that the people voted for us before, and they are still ready to vote for us again.

“Our determination to rescue the state is intact, as you can see from the number of developmental projects that are ongoing across the state.

“Our aim is to change the narrative of our socioeconomic development,” he said.

He called on supporters to continue to remain camaraderie and law-abiding.

He said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would emerge victorious, even if the rerun was to cover the entire state.

Also speaking, the state PDP acting chairman, Alhaji Muktar Lugga, lauded the party faithful for coming out en masse to welcome the governor.

He said the rally was a demonstration of love and loyalty to the state administration.

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja had declared the governorship election that was held in Zamfara on March 18 inconclusive.

In a unanimous decision, the three-member panel led by Justice Oyebisi Folayemi and supported by Justice Cordelia Ifeoma Jombo-Ofo and Justice Sybil Nwaka Gbagi yesterday nullified the return of Governor Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the governorship poll.

Justice Nwaka, who read the lead judgement, ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election in three local government areas of the state where elections had not been held previously or where results from various polling units were not counted. The affected LGAs are Maradun, Birnin-Magaji, and Bukkuyum.

The court held that it was wrong for INEC to rely on information it obtained from its INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal to collate the final result of the governorship election.

The judgment followed an appeal that was brought before the court by the immediate past governor of the state, Bello Matawalle, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election. Matawalle was later appointed by President Bola Tinubu as the Minister of State for Defence.

According to INEC, Matawalle was roundly defeated with over 65,000 votes. Specifically, INEC credited Lawal with 377,726 votes, while Matawalle was said to have scored 311,976 votes. The tribunal on September 18 upheld Lawal’s election, but Matawalle proceeded to the Appeal Court.