Bala Mohammed, Lalong win at appeal court

Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed

The Court of Appeal in Jos, on Friday, affirmed the election of Bala Mohammed as governor of Bauchi State.

The court also dismissed the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Mohammed Abubakar.

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Also, the appellate court upheld the election of Simon Lalong as governor of Plateau State.

It also dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate in the election, Jeremiah Useni.

The state election petition tribunal had on October 2 upheld Lalong’s election, prompting Useni to file an appeal on 20 grounds insisting that Lalong lied in the information he provided to INEC on his form CF0001.

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Useni, among other claims, alleged that Lalong was not qualified to contest the election.

But Justice O.A. Otisi, who read the lead judgment, ruled that there was no law under the 1999 constitution that restricts one to a particular number of names he may be known or called neither is there any law that confines one to bear a particular name throughout his/her lifetime.