Kogi Election: Supreme Court upholds Ododo’s mandate, throws out rivals’ appeals

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

In a judgement, a five-member panel of the apex court 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.

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

The judgment delivered by Justice Sadiq Umar held that the appeal by the SDP and Mr Ajaka, marked SC/CV/654/2024, was without merit and proceeded to dismiss it.

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

In the same vein, the panel, in a unanimous judgement in the case marked SC/CV/653/2024 filed by AA and Mr 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.

Mr Umar, who also read the lead judgement, 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.

A three-member panel of the Appeal Court, in a unanimous judgement delivered by Justice Onyekachi Otisi on July 11, upheld the decision of the Kogi State governorship election petition tribunal.

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

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

Justice Otisi, while delivering judgement on SDP and Mr 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 first prosecution witness (PW-1) called by the petitioners on the ground that the evidence tendered by the witness was 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 appellant’s case.

According to her, the allegation of forgery of a document that Mr Ododo submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is a pre-election matter that is handled by the Federal High Court and not the tribunal.

The said action, Ms Otisi held, happened before the conduct of the state’s November 11, 2023, governorship election and, as such, cannot be legislated upon by the lower tribunal.

The judge also held that an allegation of forgery of a document ought to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Ms Otisi subsequently resolved all the issues raised in the appeal against the appellants.

On May 27, the tribunal affirmed the victory of Mr Ododo of APC in the November 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.

It also 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 INEC.