The petition filed by Mohammed Nazeer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which contested Shehu Saleh of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner for the Magama/Rijau Federal Constituency, was dismissed by the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal (NAEPT), which is located in Minna.

Justice Angela Otaluka, the tribunal's presiding chairman, dismissed the petition and granted the petitioner N300,000 in compensation.

Having received the majority of the votes in the election and asking the tribunal to declare him the legitimate victor, Nazeer had claimed that Shehu Sale, the respondent, had been given unfair advantage in the vote-counting process.

He further argued that the respondent failed to count the legitimate votes cast at the polls and that the election was marred by irregularities and a violation of the electoral act.

Upon reviewing the petition, Justice Angela Otaluka ruled that all of the arguments made and pieces of evidence presented to the Tribunal were irrelevant, unimportant, and without merit. She dismissed the petition as being without merit.

In a related development, the Tribunal rejected a petition Sa'idu Isah of the PDP for the Agaie Federal Constituency submitted to challenge Mahmud Abdullahi of the APC's election victory.

Isah had called on the Tribunal to declare him the rightful winner of the February 25 National Assembly Election to represent Agaie/Lapai Federal Constituency, alleging that he got the majority of votes cast.

The petitioner added that the election was marred by unprecedented crises and irregularities in most polling units across the two federal constituencies.

In her judgment, Justice Angela Otaluka explained that the petitioner had failed to substantiate his claims as contained in his petition and failed to prove the allegations of noncompliance. She then dismissed the petition.