Supreme Court upholds Ododo’s victory in Kogi governorship election

The Supreme Court on Friday, affirmed the victory of Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Nov. 11, 2023 governorship election held in Kogi.

A five-member panel of the apex court, in a judgment, held that the appeal by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and  its candidate, Muritala Ajaka, marked: SC/CV/654/2024 was without merit and proceeded to dismiss it.

The apex court also dismissed the appeal by the Action Alliance (AA) and its candidate in the Nov. 11, 2023 governorship election in Kogi, Olayinka Braimoh, seeking to void the victory of Gov. Ododo in the poll.

A five-member panel of the apex court, in a judgment delivered by Justice Sadiq Umar, held that the appeal by the SDP and Ajaka, marked: SC/CV/654/2024 was without merit and proceeded to dismiss it.

Justice Umar, who wrote and read the lead judgment, resolved all the three issues identified for determination in the appeal against the appellants.

In the same vein, the panel, in a unanimous judgment in the case marked: SC/CV/653/2024 filed by AA and Braimoh, held that the appeal was incompetent, the notice of appeal having been filed outside the 14 days allowed by law for the filing of such notice.

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Justice Umar, who also read the lead judgment, held that since the preliminary objection filed against the competence of the appeal was meritorious, it was of no use for the panel to consider other issues raised in the appeal.

The judge proceeded to dismiss the appeal and awarded a cost of N5 million against the appellants and in favour of the respondents.

Recall that a three-member panel of the Appeal Court, in a unanimous judgement delivered by Justice Onyekachi Otisi on July 11, had upheld the decision of the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

The appellate court held that the SDP and its governorship candidate, Ajaka, failed to prove the allegations contained in their appeal beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.

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The court equally dismissed the appeals filed by the AA and Braimoh; and that of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and its governorship candidate, Dr Abdullahi Bayawo, challenging Ododo’s victory.

Justice Otisi, while delivering judgment on SDP and Ajaka”s appeal, agreed with the election petition tribunal which sat in Abuja.

The judge said the tribunal was right to have expunged the evidence of the 1st prosecution witness (PW-1) called by the petitioners on the ground that the evidence tendered by the witness was a documentary hearsay.

She said witnesses, whether subpoenaed or normal, are supposed to front-load their witness statements on oath as required by law.

The judge held that the petitioners’ witnesses were incompetent because their statements did not accompany the petition in line with the electoral laws

She agreed with the tribunal that there were inconsistencies in the case of the appellants.

According to her, 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.

The said action, Justice Otisi held, happened before the conduct of the Nov. 11, 2023 governorship election in the state and as such, cannot be legislated upon by the lower tribunal.

The judge also held that the allegation of forgery of documents ought to be proven beyond reasonable doubt.

Justice Otisi subsequently resolved all the issues raised in the appeal against the appellants.