The Supreme Court has upheld Ahmed Ododo as the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State.
In a unanimous judgment delivered on Monday, a five-member panel of the court dismissed the appeal filed by Smart Adeyemi, the former senator representing Kogi West.
The court ruled that Adeyemi failed to provide sufficient grounds for the reversal of the concurrent judgments of the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal, which previously dismissed his suit.
Ahmed Ododo, a former Local Government Auditor-General in the state, emerged as the APC’s candidate after garnering 78,704 votes, surpassing six other contenders in the party’s primary election.
Salami Momodu secured 1,506 votes, Yahaya-Ashemogu obtained 1,159 votes, and Abubakar Audu received 763 votes. Meanwhile, Stephen Ocheni garnered 552 votes, Sanusi Ohiare had 424 votes, and Smart Adeyemi secured 311 votes.
Adeyemi initially approached the Abuja Federal High Court with a suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/556/2023, seeking to invalidate the gubernatorial primary. However, the trial judge, James Omotosho, dismissed the suit on July 12, citing its lack of merit.
The Court of Appeal also dismissed Adeyemi’s subsequent appeal in August. Undeterred, the former senator further appealed to the Supreme Court.
In delivering the lead judgment, Justice Emmanuel Agim emphasized that the APC provided credible evidence to validate the primary election that led to Ododo’s emergence as the party’s gubernatorial candidate.
Justice Agim stated, “No ground of the appeal suggests that findings of both the trial court and the lower court were perverse.”
The judge also asserted that Adeyemi’s appeal lacked merit and was frivolous and vexatious, ordering a cost of one million naira against the 1st and 3rd respondents.
