The Supreme Court, on Friday, August 23, 2024, affirmed the victory of Governor Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11, 2023, governorship election in Kogi State.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court, in a judgement, held that the appeal by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its candidate, Murtala Ajaka, was without merit and proceeded to dismiss it.
Justice Sadiq Umar, who authored and read the lead judgement, resolved all three issues identified for determination in the appeal against the appellants.
A three-member panel of the Court of Appeal, 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 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 Action Alliance (AA) and its governorship candidate, Olayinka Braimoh, and that of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) and its governorship candidate, Dr Abdullahi Bayawo, challenging Ododo’s victory.
Justice Otisi, while delivering judgement on SDP and Ajaka’s appeal, agreed with the election petition tribunal in Abuja.
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The judge said the tribunal was right to have expunged the evidence of the first prosecution witness 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 a document 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, occurred before the conduct of the 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 a document ought to be proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Justice Otisi subsequently resolved all the issues raised in the appeal against the appellants.
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