Melaye loses as appeal court upholds Adeyemi’s election

The court of appeal sitting in Abuja has dismissed the suit filed by Dino Melaye, former lawmaker representing Kogi west senatorial district, challenging the election of Smart Adeyemi. 

Delivering the judgement on Tuesday, Ibrahim Saulawa, the presiding judge, validated the ruling of the state national assembly election petitions tribunal which upheld Adeyemi’s victory in the 2019 election.

He also awarded N50,000 against Melaye and his party.

In June, the national assembly election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja affirmed Smart Adeyemi as the senator representing Kogi west district.

Adeyemi defeated Dino Melaye, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in the rerun poll of November 16.

He polled 88,373 votes to defeat Melaye who secured 62,133 votes.

The PDP candidate had urged the tribunal to order a fresh election on the grounds that the election was marred by irregularities and non-compliance with the electoral act.

But the three-man panel unanimously dismissed the petitioner’s prayers.

The tribunal held that the petitioners failed to prove that the election was marred by inconsistencies, over-voting, violence and non-compliance with the standard of the electoral act.

However, Melaye headed to the appeal court seeking to upturn the judgement of the election tribunal but he lost.