The Court of Appeal in Abuja has upheld the election of Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the duly elected Kogi State Governor.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Thursday by a three-member panel led by a Justice of the Court of Appeal (JCA), Justice Onyekachi Otisi, the appellate court also dismissed the petition filed by the Social Democratic Party and its governorship candidate, Murtala Ajaka.
Dismissing the appellants’ claims, the appellate court further held that the SDP and Ajaka failed to present credible evidence to substantiate their allegations of electoral malpractices, over-voting and certificate forgery.
The appellate court also held that the appellants failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt as required by law the allegations contained in their petition challenging Ododo’s election victory.
The appellate court further held that the Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which sat in Abuja was right to have expunged the evidence of the first witness called by the petitioners for being hearsay documents.
It added that the allegation of forgery of a document which Ododo submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is a pre-election matter which is handled by the Federal High Court and not the Tribunal.
The appellate court held that the said action happened before the conduct of the November 11 governorship election in the state and as such, cannot be legislated upon by the Kogi Election Petitions Tribunal.
Justice Otisi then said, “The appellants failed to do as required by law. Affidavit of loss attached to form EC8 by the second defendant is by no means a certificate.
“I see no reason to disturb the decision of the lower Tribunal on the petition as the appellants have failed to prove their allegations contained in their petition.”
Having resolved all the issues raised in the appeal against the appellants, the appellate court dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit and upheld the judgement of the tribunal.
“This appeal failed and it is hereby dismissed for lacking in merit. There is no order as to cost, parties are to bear their respective cost,” the court pronounced.
The appellate court also dismissed the appeals by the Action Alliance and its governorship candidate, Olayinka Braimoh and that of the Peoples Redemption Party and its governorship candidate, Dr Abdullahi Bayawo, against the victory of Governor Ododo for lacking in merit.
The tribunal had on May 27, affirmed the victory of Ododo in the November 11, 2023 Kogi governorship poll.
The three-member panel of the Kogi Elections Tribunal held that the petition was bereft of substance and accordingly dismissed it.
Dissatisfied with the Tribunal judgment, the SDP and Ajaka approached the Court of Appeal for an order setting aside the judgement of the Tribunal, an order restoring the testimony of their first witness (PW1) as well as all the documents they tendered but expunged from the records of the Tribunal.
The appellants also requested the Appeal Court to hold that Ododo was not qualified to have contested the election into the office of Governor of Kogi State and that all votes ascribed and or allocated to him and the APC were wasted votes.
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