The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upturned the removal of Nasarawa state Governor Abdullahi Sule.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the March election but David Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rejected the outcome and headed for the tribunal.

According to INEC, Sule polled a total of 347,209 votes to defeat his closest opponent, who secured 283,016 votes.

In a split decision on October 2, the tribunal nullified Sule’s election and upheld Ombugadu as the winner.

Responding, Sule, through his counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN), asked the appellate court to upturn the judgment of the tribunal and allow his own appeal.

Olanipekun argued that the tribunal refused to take the submissions of their witnesses during the tribunal hearing, adding that the BVAS data were merely dumped before the tribunal without being considered as evidence.

A three-member panel of justices unanimously held on Thursday that the Nasarawa State Election Petition Tribunal erred in law in concluding that Sule did not win majority of the votes cast in the election.

The appellate court subsequently set aside the judgment of the tribunal and affirmed the re-election of Sule as Governor of Nasarawa State.