Two governorship election tribunals on Monday declared Mr. Usman Ododo of Kogi State and Senator Duoye Diri of Bayelsa State as winners of the off-cycle elections in their respective States.

Kogi State
About seven months after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Alhaji Usman Ododo as the winner of the Governorship Election in Kogi State, the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Monday affirmed Alhaji Usman Ododo as the duly elected governor of the state.

The three-member tribunal led by Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu held that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its governorship candidate, Alhaji Murtala Ajaka, failed to prove their allegations against the respondents.

According to Justice Birnin-Kudu, the election “was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act”.

The tribunal held that the petition filed by Alhaji Ajaka was bereft of substance thus, dismissed.

The panel of Justices also held that the petitioners; the SDP and its candidate, Alhaji Ajaka, failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 in their petition.

Accordingly, the Tribunal panel members unanimously held that all the witness’ evidence filed before it was incompetent and full of inconsistencies while the panel members agreed with the submissions of the respondents that the allegations of forgery raised in the petition were pre-election matters which ought to have been raised 14 days after the documents were submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

On 13 November, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Alhaji Ododo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the Kogi governorship election held on November 11, 2023.

Alhaji Ododo polled 446,237 votes to defeat Ajaka, who came second with 259,052 votes; and Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 46,362 votes.

Alhaji Ododo, the candidate of the APC was declared winner of the off-cycle election held in Kogi State on November 11, 2023, by INEC after thrashing his closest rival, Alhaji Ajaka of the SDP with a wide margin.

However, not satisfied with the result of the election, the SDP governorship candidate, Alhaji Ajaka filed a petition before the tribunal to challenge Ododo’s victory.

The case, which commenced in December 2023, climaxed on 13 May 2024 when the SDP and its candidate, Ajaka, the APC, Governor Ododo, and INEC adopted their final written addresses, after which the tribunal reserved judgment in the petition for 27 May 2024.

In the petition, Alhaji Ajaka listed INEC, Ododo, and the APC as 1st to 3rd respondents respectively.

On Friday, 26 April 2024, INEC, Ododo, and APC’s counsels opposed the move by Mr. Jibrin Okutepa, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) to lead a witness, Mr. Edidiong Udoh, a digital forensic expert in evidence.

Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN, Mr. Alex Iziyon, SAN, and Mr. Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, counsels to INEC, Alhaji Ododo, and APC respectively argued that the petitioners did not list the name of the witness in their proof of evidence, stressing that the witness statement on oath was not front-loaded alongside the petition.

The three Counsels contended that the petitioners served the reports of the witness’ analysis on them 20 minutes before the commencement of the proceedings.

In his submission, Counsel to the SDP Governorship candidate, Mr. Okutepa, SAN, said that the forensic expert was listed on Page 56 of the petition as item 10, adding that his statement was also front-loaded.

But, INEC, Ododo, and his party, the APC prayed the tribunal to dismiss Ajaka and SDP’s petition in its entirety for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

The trio had, through their lawyers; Chief Kanu Agabi, SAN; Mr. Joseph Daudu, SAN and Mr. Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, respectively, prayed the tribunal while adopting their final written addresses and presenting their arguments against the petition.

However, Alhaji Ajaka’s counsel, Mr. Pius Akubo, SAN, urged the tribunal to discountenance the respondents’ submissions and uphold their petition which the members of the Tribunal turned down and dismissed the petition.

Bayelsa State
The Bayelsa state electoral tribunal also affirmed the victory of the state governor, Duoye Diri, in last year’s off-cycle gubernatorial poll, dismissing the petition filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Timpre Sylvia for lacking merit.

In a ruling by a three-member panel of the tribunal led by Adekunle Adeleye, on Monday, the court disagreed with the APC candidate who claimed to be the winner of November 11, 2024, stating that he failed to provide credible evidence to substantiate his allegations against the outcome of the poll.
The tribunal also ruled that the petitioner failed to provide additional proof evidence to substantiate his claim against Governor Diri’s victory.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Diri the winner of the poll for his second term in office after polling a total of 175,196 votes to emerge as the winner, while Timipre Sylva, who is the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), came in second with 110,108 votes.

Not satisfied with the outcome of the poll, the APC candidate approached the tribunal to upturn the result of the poll and declare him the winner of the governorship election.

In his petition, Mr. Sylva argued that the deputy governor of the state, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, tendered forged university degree certificates and the National Youth Service Corps letter of exemption to the electoral body.

He also argued that the electoral body did not hold elections in three local governments, namely Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, and Nembe, which were his strongholds during the election, stating that the poll was marred by malpractices.

He then prayed to the court to nullify the elections and declare him the winner of the election.

In its decision, the tribunal dismissed the allegation that the state’s deputy governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, submitted forged university degrees and NYSC certificates to INEC, stating that the allegation was a pre-election matter that should have been heard by the federal high court.

The tribunal questioned its jurisdiction in the case, claiming that all questions about the certificates should have been answered 14 days after they were submitted to INEC.

The tribunal further ruled against the petitioner’s demand for nullification of the election and to declare Sylvia as the winner of the poll, adding that the prayer was contradictory.

“The result declared by INEC enjoys presumption of regularity and a party desirous to challenge the result must do so with convincing and credible evidence,” the tribunal ruled.

“None presentation of BVAS machines and voters register used for accreditation in the election proved fatal to the case of the petitioners.

“I hold that the onus of proof of the positive assertion that valid election took place in the disputed 184 polling units in 57 wards, rests on the petitioners.

“I also hold that the margin of lead principle is not applicable in this case as the petitioners made contradictory prayers”, the tribunal stated