The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday voided the declaration of Mr Dauda Lawal of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the governorship poll held in Zamfara State on March 18.
The court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices declared the election as inconclusive and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a rerun in three local government areas of the state, where elections did not hold previously or where results from various polling units were not counted.
The affected council areas are Maradun, Birnin-Magaji and Bukkuyum. In the lead judgement read by Justice Sybil Nwaka, the court held that it INEC erred by relying on information it obtained from its IReV portal to collate the final result of the governorship election.
The judgement followed an appeal that was lodged before the court by the immediate past governor of the state, Mr Bello Matawalle, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.
The election tribunal in Zamfara had earlier ruled in favour of Lawal but its ruling has now been overturned by the appeal court. Lawal is expected to remain in office until the matter is finally decided by the Supreme Court.
