The Nasarawa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on October 2, nullified the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and declared David Ombudagu of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the March 18 governorship election in the State. The three-member tribunal in a 2-1 judgment held that the PDP proved that the polling unit results it presented were manipulated in favour of the APC. Based on this, the tribunal recomputed the votes accruing to the PDP candidate in the election and held that he secured the majority of valid votes at the election. The dissenting judgment by one member of the tribunal was to the effect that the petition of the PDP lacked merit.
The Governor, Abdullahi Sule has however stated that he will be appealing the decision of the tribunal.
In March 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Abdullahi Sule winner of the Nasarawa State governorship election with 347, 209 votes to beat his closest rival, David Ombugadu of the PDP who scored 283,016 votes. Dissatisfied with the outcome, the PDP and its candidate approached the court.
With judgments delivered on petitions challenging the 2023 governorship elections in 11 States so far, the Nasarawa Governor is the second Governor whose election has been nullified by a Governorship Election Petition Tribunal. The election of the Kano State Governor was nullified by the tribunal in the State, although the decision has been appealed.