Kogi Governorship Poll: Tribunal Affirms Usman Ododo’s Election victory

The Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, on Monday, affirmed Usman Ododo as the Governor of Kogi State.

In upholding the election of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the tribunal dismissed the petition of Muritala Ajaka of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

The three-member tribunal led by Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu held that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its governorship candidate, Murtala Ajaka failed to prove their allegations against the respondents.

Birnin-Kudu said the election was conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act .

The tribunal held that the petitioners; the social Democratic Party (SDap) and its 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 matter, which ought to have been raised 14 days after the documents were submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)

Metrobusinessnews.com had reported that Kogi had, on Nov. 11, 2023, held its off-cycle election in which Ododo of the APC emerged winner beating his closest rival, Ajaka of the SDP.

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

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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 in the petition.

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

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

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