Supreme court upholds Ododo’s election as Kogi governor, dismisses Ajaka’s appeal

The supreme court has affirmed Usman Ododo as the duly elected governor of Kogi state.

In a judgment delivered on Friday, a five-member panel dismissed the appeal filed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Murtala Ajaka, its governorship candidate.

The panel held that the appeal marked SC/CV/654/2024 was void of merit.

Sadiq Umar, who authored and read the lead judgment, resolved all the three issues brought for determination in the appeal against the appellants.

The supreme court also dismissed the appeal by the Action Alliance (AA) and its candidate, Olayinka Baimoh, against Ododo’s victory.

The court held that the appeal marked SC/CV/653/2024 was incompetent because the notice was filed outside the 14 days permitted by law.

The court proceeded to dismiss the appeal and award a cost of N5 million against the appellants and in favour of the respondents.

BACKGROUND

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Ododo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the Kogi governorship election held on November 11, 2023.

Ododo polled 446,237 votes to defeat Ajaka who came second with 259,052 votes; and Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 46,362 votes.

TRIBUNAL

After the poll, the SDP and Ajaka filed petitions to challenge Ododo’s victory.

Among several issues raised, the petitioners contended that Ododo was not qualified to contest the election due to alleged certificate forgery.

They also said Ododo’s sponsorship by his political party was invalid and unconstitutional.

They contended that there was over-voting and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act.

They asked the court to declare that the ballots cast for APC and Ododo amounted to “wasted votes”.

They prayed the tribunal to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Ododo and declare Ajaka winner of the poll.

Alternatively, the petitioners asked the court to order a supplementary poll in the affected polling units, while demanding that the APC and its candidate be exempted from the poll.

In its unanimous verdict, the court held that the issue of forgery and non-qualification is a pre-election matter.

The tribunal also held that the petitioners failed to adduce credible evidence to prove their allegations of over-voting.

The tribunal said the petitioners abandoned 96.4 percent of the case they set out to make.

The trial court also faulted the petitioners for failing to call credible witnesses to prove their case, noting that none of the 25 witnesses called were polling officers or polling unit agents.

APPEAL COURT

Aggrieved by the decision of the tribunal, SDP and its candidate approached the court of appeal.

However, on July 11, a three-member panel of the appellate court agreed with the verdict of the lower court.

The appellate court also held that the issue of alleged certificate forgery ought to have commenced at a federal high court as a pre-election matter.

The appeal court held that the appellant could not prove its case “beyond reasonable doubt” and upheld Ododo’s election as governor of Kogi state.