Kogi guber: Supreme court dismisses order barring Ajaka from inspecting election materials

The supreme court on Thursday dismissed the order barring Murtala Ajaka, candidate of the  Social Democratic Party (SDP), from inspecting materials used during the Kogi state governorship election in November 2023.

 The apex court upheld the judgment of the Kogi governorship tribunal which permitted the SDP candidate to inspect election materials.

Emmanuel Agim, who read the lead judgment, held that the order of the tribunal was within the scope of section 146 of the electoral Act.

“In light of the foregoing, this appeal is allowed, and the cross-appeal dismissed with no costs,” Agim held.

The tribunal had in November granted an ex parte order, allowing the SDP and its candidate to carry out a forensic examination of all the bimodal voters accreditation system (BVAS) used in the election, among other reliefs.

However, the order was set aside by a three-member panel of justices of the court of appeal on March 1. 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) announced Usman Ododo, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the Kogi state governorship election.

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