The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State after a five-member panel of the court unanimously held that the appeal by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its candidate, Muritala Ajaka, to challenge Ododo’s victory lacked merit.
Penpushing reports that Justice Sadiq Umar, who read the lead judgement, dismissed the appeal after resolving all the three issues identified for determination in the appeal against the appellants, while it is recalled that a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal had affirmed Ododo’s election in a unanimous judgement delivered on July 11, 2024.
The lead judgement, delivered by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, upheld the decision of the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which had equally affirmed the Governor’s election, and the appellate court held that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its Governorship candidate, failed to prove the allegations contained in their appeal beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.
Penpushing further reports that the court in same vein, dismissed the appeals filed by Action Alliance (AA) and its Governorship candidate, Olayinka Braimoh; and that of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and its governorship candidate, Abdullahi Bayawo, challenging Ododo’s victory.
The Court of Appeal in its judgement on Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Ajaka’s appeal agreed that the tribunal was right to have expunged the evidence of the 1st petitioners’ witness (PW-1) on the grounds that the evidence tendered by the witness was a documentary hearsay.
Penpushing also reports that the judge pointed out that witnesses, whether subpoenaed or normal, are supposed to front-load their witness statements on oath as required by law, and held that the petitioners’ witnesses were incompetent because their statements did not accompany the petition in line with the electoral laws.
The judge agreed with the tribunal that there were inconsistencies in the case of the appellants, stressing that the allegation of forgery of documents that 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.
Penpushing reports that the court equally held that the issue happened before the conduct of the 2023 Governorship election in the state and as such, cannot be legislated upon by the lower tribunal, and also held that the allegation of forgery of documents ought to be proven beyond reasonable doubt and resolved all the issues raised in the appeal against the appellants.
Meanwhile, Ododo was the Governorship Candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11, 2023 Governorship election in the state, and in May 27 the tribunal affirmed his victory as duly elected Governor.
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