The petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) House of Representatives candidate for the Kaura Federal Constituency, Gideon Gwani, to void the election of his Labour Party (LP) rival, Donatus Mathew, was dismissed by the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Kaduna on Friday.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) held its House of Representatives election on February 25, 2023, and Donatus, a former Okada rider, won.
Unhappy with the election results, Gideon Gwani—the Minority Whip at the 9th Assembly of the House of Representatives—filed a petition with the tribunal asking that Donatus’ victory be declared unlawful.

When giving his ruling in the case on Friday, Justice F.A. Fiberesima presided over a three-person panel that heard the petition, dismissed the case, and granted Donatus N1.6 million in damages.
Speaking with reporters on Friday, The petitioner submitted two complaints, according to the respondent’s attorney, Zakari Sogfa. “The first prayer was that the Respondent, Donatus was not qualified to contest the election that produced him as his party’s flag bearer for Kaura Federal Constituency,” Sogfa stated.
He came to that decision on the grounds that Donatus was not supported by his political party and that there were five instances of electoral fraud, but the Tribunal rejected the two pleas because they lacked merit.
He claimed that the panel also decided that Gwani has no authority to tell a political party who to support or how to conduct its elections, other than who should fly its flag.
Sogfa argued that the council was unable to annul the election as was requested and that doing so would amount to meddling in political party activities, especially given that the topic under discussion was a pre-election subject.
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