The Supreme Court has affirmed the victory of the candidate of All Progressives Congress, during the Kogi State governorship election Usman Ododo, sidelining the appeals of the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Murtala Ajaka, and the candidate Action Alliance (AA), Olayinka Baimoh. In a unanimous judgment read by Justice Sadiq Umar, on behalf
The Supreme Court has affirmed the victory of the candidate of All Progressives Congress, during the Kogi State governorship election Usman Ododo, sidelining the appeals of the candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Murtala Ajaka, and the candidate Action Alliance (AA), Olayinka Baimoh.
In a unanimous judgment read by Justice Sadiq Umar, on behalf of the five-member panel on Friday, the panel ruled that the appeal marked SC/CV/654/2024 for the SDP candidate and SC/CV/653/2024 for the AA candidate were void of merit.
The Supreme Court also held that the AA candidate’s appeal before it was incompetent due to its late filing, having filed his case later than the 14 days as stipulated by law and awarded a cost of N5 million against the appellants and in favour of the respondents.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Usman Ododo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the November 11, 2023, off-cycle gubernatorial election in Kogi state.
According to the INEC Returning Officer for the poll, Professor Johnson Urama, Vice-Chancellor (Academics) of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Usman Ododo polled 446,237 votes to defeat Ajaka, who came in second with 259,052 votes, and Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who came in far third with 46,362 votes.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the election, SDP and AA approached the electoral tribunal to file a petition with the prayer that the result be upturned, and the electoral umpire be ordered to conduct a fresh election in about five local governments, on the ground grounds of alleged forgery, voting and non-compliance to the Electoral Act.
APC attorneys led by Emmanuel Ukala contested the petitioners’ claims, pointing out that the witnesses’ declarations were not included in the petition and questioning the petitioner’s credibility.
Consequently, the tribunal dismissed the petition and reaffirmed Ododo’s election, ruling among other things that the petitioner could not establish that the governor had presented a falsified certificate, adding that the issue of forgery and non-qualification is a pre-election matter.
The tribunal also faulted the petitioners for failing to present credible witnesses to prove their case, noting that none of the 25 witnesses called were polling officers or polling unit agents.
Not satisfied with the outcome of the tribunal’s ruling, the SDP and its candidate approached the court of appeal to overturn the verdict of the tribunal and declare Ajaka as the winner of the governorship election
However, on July 11, a three-member panel of the appellate court dismissed the appeal and agreed with the tribunal’s decision, stating that the appellant could not prove its case beyond reasonable doubt and upholding Ododo’s election as governor of Kogi State.
Similarly, the apex court also validated the re-election of Senator Duoye Diri as the Governor of Bayelsa State, sidelining the appeal of Timipre Sylva, a candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the November 11, 2023 off-cycle election.
In their decision on Friday, a five-member panel led by Justice Lawal Garba agreed with the Court of Appeal’s July 15 decision, which found Sylva’s appeal to be an abuse of the court process for filing two notices.
INEC had declared that Governor Duoye Diri of the PDP was the winner of the off-cycle poll, having garnered a total of 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Timipre Sylva of the APC who polled 110,108 votes.
