Akpoti Wins Appeal As Court Clears Sylva In Bayelsa Race

Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal yesterday affirmed Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan as the duly elected Senator for Kogi Central senatorial district of Kogi State.

The appellate court affirmed the judgement of the Kogi State National/State Assembly election petitions tribunal, which earlier pronounced Akpoti-Uduaghan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as rightful winner of the February 25 National Assembly elections instead of Abubakar Sadiku-Ohere of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who was earlier declared winner of the exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

Dissatisfied with the verdict of the tribunal, Sadiku-Ohere had approached the Court of Appeal seeking for respite.

But a three-man panel of Justices of the appellate court affirmed the judgement of the tribunal shortly after it dismissed Sadiku-Ohere’s appeal for lacking in merit.

According to the superior court, the appellant failed to provide convincing evidence why the judgment of the Tribunal should be set aside in his favour.

Justice Hamma Barka of the court subsequently held that Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan PDP, having won the majority of lawful votes cast at the poll, is winner of the Kogi Central Senatorial District poll.

Akpoti-Uduaghan had contested the declaration of Sadiku-Ohere as winner of the election on the grounds that INEC failed to input election results from Ajaokuta, Adavi and Okehi local government areas of the senatorial district, whose votes gave her the winning margin above Sadiku-Ohere.

The rejected and excluded results were then added to the overall results, which then revealed that the PDP candidate won the majority of lawful votes cast at the poll.

The appellate court, in rejecting the APC candidate’s appeal, held that INEC which has the duty of conducting and collating election results failed to provide reasons why the results of the elections in the affected local government areas were rejected and excluded from the overall results in the first place.

In his reaction, Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, said he accepted the decision of the Court of Appeal affirming Akpoti-Uduaghan as the duly elected candidate for the Kogi Central senatorial election held earlier in February.

Speaking with State House correspondents yesterday, Bello also congratulated Natasha, noting that this was the essence of democracy.

As a leader of the party in the state, he expressed his desire not to lose any seat.

He added that both Natasha and Abubakar Ohere are his siblings from the same senatorial zone.

He called on the people of Kogi Central to embrace the court’s decision.

He said, “At this moment, I accept the decision of the Appeal Court and I use this opportunity to congratulate my sister, Natasha, as a Senator of Kogi Central senatorial district”.

Also yesterday, the appellate court in Abuja set aside the judgment of Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which nullified the nomination of Timipre Sylva as candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Bayelsa State governorship election fixed for November 11.

A three-member panel of the appellate court held in their judgment that the lower court lacked the jurisdiction to have heard and determined the case filed by Demesuoyefa Kolomo, who described himself as a registered voter and a member of the APC.

The court held that having not been an aspirant, who participated in APC’s governorship primary, Kolomo lacked the locus standi to approach the court to challenge the nomination of the party’s candidate.

It proceeded to set aside the Federal High Court judgment, allowed the appeal filed by Sylva and granted all the reliefs sought.

The court also awarded N1million cost in favour of Sylva.

In a separate judgment, the court also allowed a similar appeal filed on the same issue by the APC and equally awarded N1m cost in favour of the APC.

On October 9, Justice Donatus Okorowo of the Federal High Court, Abuja, disqualified Sylva.

Justice Okorowo ruled that Chief Sylva, having been sworn in twice and ruled for five years as governor of Bayelsa, would breach the 1999 constitution as amended if allowed to contest again.

The judge also declared that Sylva was not qualified to run in the November poll because if he wins and is sworn in, he would spend more than eight years in office as governor of the state.

He further stated that the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Marwa vs Nyako that nobody can expand the constitution or its scope. So, if Sylva is allowed to contest the next election, it means a person can contest as many times as he wishes.

The suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/821/2023 was filed on June 13, 2023 by Deme Kolomo, a member of the APC.