The Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has affirmed the election victory of Governor Usman Ododo of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11, 2023, governorship poll in the state.

The three-member panel of justices, headed by Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu, on Monday, May 27, 2024, held that the petition was bereft of substance and accordingly dismissed.

The tribunal declared that the petitioners – the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its gubernatorial candidate, Murtala 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 matters, which ought to have been raised 14 days after the documents were submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

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Kogi State had, on November 11, 2023, held its off-cycle election in which Ododo of the APC emerged winner beating his closest rival, Ajaka of the SDP by a wide margin.

Ajaka, dissatisfied with the outcome of the election, filed a petition before the tribunal, challenging Ododo’s victory.

The case, which commenced in December 2023, came to its highest point on May 13 when SDP, Ajaka, APC, Ododo, and INEC adopted their final written addresses, after which the tribunal reserved judgement on the petition.

It would be recalled that INEC, Ododo and his party, APC, prayed the tribunal to dismiss Ajaka and SDP’s petition for being incompetent and lacking in merit.

The trio had, through their lawyers – Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN), Joseph Daud (SAN), and Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) – told the tribunal so while adopting their final written addresses and presenting their arguments against the petition.

However, Ajaka’s lawyer, Pius Akubo (SAN), urged the tribunal to discount the respondents’ submissions and uphold their petition.

The Star