- The petitioner called 25 witnesses from the five Local Government Areas including Adavi, and Okene LGAs, and they challenged the results from the disputed polling units.
- The petitioners also alleged that over-voting occurred in 5 local government areas of Kogi state including Adavi, Okene, Okeyi, and LGAs.
The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed governor Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress, APC as winner of the office cycle election held in Kogi State on November 11.
The affirmation followed the dismissal of the appeal of Murtala Ajaka, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party who challenged the outcome of the election.
In a unanimous judgment, the Apex Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal which on May 27 affirmed the election of Ododo.
Justice Sadiq Umar, who authored and read the lead judgment, resolved all the three issues identified for determination in the appeal against the appellants.
The Court held that the allegation of substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act was not proven by the SDP governorship candidate.
It further adds that allegations of age falsification and certificate forgery are pre-election matters, noting it’s the Federal High Court that has jurisdiction to entertain the matter.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced that Ododo polled a total of 446,237 votes to defeat Mister Ajaka who came second with 259,052 votes.
NAN reports that the tribunal had, on May 27, affirmed the victory of Gov. Ododo of APC in the Nov. 11, 2023 Kogi governorship poll.
The three-member panel of justices, headed by Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu, held that the petition was bereft of substance and accordingly dismissed it.
The tribunal held that SDP and Ajaka failed to prove the allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 in the petition.
The panel, in a unanimous, decision held that all the witness evidence filed before it were incompetent and full of inconsistencies.
It also agreed with the submissions of the respondents that the allegations of forgery raised in the petition were pre-election matter, which ought to have been raised 14 days after the documents were submitted to INEC.
Kogi had, on Nov. 11, 2023, held its off-cycle election in which Ododo of the APC emerged winner, beating his closest rival, Ajaka of the SDP with a wide margin.
Unsatisfied with INEC’s declaration of Ododo as winner of the poll, Ajaka and his party dragged the electoral umpire, Ododo and APC to the tribunal as 1st to 3rd respondents respectively