For the third time, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Yakubu Ajaka, failed in his bid to invalidate the victory of Usman Ododo as Kogi State governor in the November 11, 2023 governorship election.
The Supreme Court on Friday, dismissed the joint appeal filed by the SDP candidate, Ajaka alongside his party for lacking in merit and substance.
A lead judgment delivered by Justice Sadiq Umar, threw out Ajaka’s appeal after resolving all the three issues in dispute against him.
The apex court in the unanimous decision, held that Ajaka failed to give cogent and verifiable evidence in the series of allegations against the victory of Ododo.
Besides, Justice Umar said that most of the allegations were pre-election matters which ought to have been taken to the Federal High Court for resolution before the election.
The Supreme Court consequently dismissed the appeal but did not award cost against the appellants.
The court upheld the decisions of the Court of Appeal and the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal which had earlier dismissed the grievances of Ajaka against the election.
On July 11, the Court of Appeal in Abuja had affirmed Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the validly elected governor of Kogi State.
A 3-member panel of the Court had in an unanimous judgment held that the SDP and its governorship candidate, Ajaka failed to substantiate the allegations contained in their petition challenging Ododo’s election beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.
The appellate court had ruled that the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which sat in Abuja was right to have expunged the evidence of the first witness called by the petitioners for been hearsay.
According to the court, the allegation of forgery of document which Ododo was alleged to have submitted to INEC was declared a pre-election matter which ought to have been handled by the Federal High Court and not the post-election Tribunal.
The tribunal had on May 27 affirmed the victory of Ododo and APC in the November 11, 2023 Kogi governorship election.
