The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday affirmed Ahmed Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the validly elected governor of Kogi State.
A unanimous judgment delivered the decision from a three-member panel of Justices, who held that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its governorship candidate, Murtala Yakubu Ajaka, failed to prove the allegations in their petition challenging Ododo’s election beyond a reasonable doubt, as required by law.
The appellate court supported the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal’s earlier decision, which had expunged the evidence of the first witness called by the petitioners, deeming it hearsay.
The court also noted that the allegation of forgery of documents, which Ododo allegedly submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was a pre-election matter that should be handled by the Federal High Court, not the Tribunal.
Having resolved all issues raised in the appeal against the appellants, the court dismissed the appeal for lacking merit and upheld the Tribunal’s judgment.
It should be recalled that the Tribunal had, on May 27, affirmed Ododo’s victory in the November 11, 2023 Kogi State governorship poll, dismissing the petition as bereft of substance.
Ajaka and his party had approached the Court of Appeal seeking an order to set aside the Tribunal’s judgment, restore the testimony of their first witness (PW1), and reinstate all documents that had been expunged from the Tribunal’s records.
The appellants also asked the Appeal Court to declare that Ododo was not qualified to contest the election and that all votes ascribed to him and the APC were wasted votes.
The Court of Appeal’s decision, however, upheld Ododo’s victory and dismissed the appellants’ claims.
