Tribunal dismisses Akpoti’s petition, affirms Yahaya Bello as Kogi governor

The Kogi state governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja has affirmed Yahaya Bello as the duly elected governor of Kogi state.

The three-man panel of the tribunal led by Kashim Kaigama, on Monday, dismissed the suit filed by the Socialist Democratic Party (SDP) and Natasha Akpoti, its 2019 governorship candidate.

Akpoti and her party had instituted the suit challenging Bello’s victory as governor on the grounds that irregularities marred the election.

However, delivering the judgment, the tribunal held that the petition failed woefully.

Consequently, the tribunal ordered the petitioners (SDP and Akpoti) to pay N100,000 to each of the respondents.

The respondents in the suit are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the All Progressive Congress (APC), and Bello.

The total cost to be paid by the petitioners sums up to N600,000.

In the election, Bello polled 406,222 votes to defeat Musa Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 189,704, while Akpoti got 9,482 votes.