The Supreme Court of Nigeria holding at Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory is to deliver judgement in an appeal instituted by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) against the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP) and Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri of Adamawa state on or before 5th February, 2020.
This is in pursuance to section 285 sub section 7 of the 1999 Constitution as amended which provided that matters of this magnitude should be determined within 60 days of judgement delivered at the lower court.
It could be recalled that on the 5th December, 2019, the Court of Appeal sitting Yola, the Adamawa state capital had delivered judgement on the appeal filed before it by APC, challenging the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal which affirmed the election of Fintiri.
The Appeal Court had when delivering its judgement, dismissed the appeal filed by the party for lacking in merits and further upheld the election of the incumbent Governor Ahmadu Umaru Fintiri.
The embattled APC had earlier filed the suit at the court and prayed it to set aside the verdict of the Election Petition Tribunal which struck out its petition against the ruling Peoples' Democratic Party (PDP), Fintiri and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
But dissatisfied with the decision of the Appeal Court, the party went ahead and instituted an appeal at the Apex Court on the 16th December, 2019, while Fintiri and PDP filed their cross appeal on the 17th and 18th December, 2019 respectively.
At the moment, both the parties that are involved in the matter are exchanging briefs after which the court will fix a date for hearing and for judgement.
The judgement is going to mark the end of the protracted legal tussle engaged by the opposition APC and the ruling PDP for the plum seat at the Dougirei Government House, Yola.
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