Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, said he has accepted the decision of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, that affirmed Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan as the duly elected candidate for the Kogi Central Senatorial Election.

Speaking to State House Correspondents, after the Police Council Meeting, he congratulated Natasha.

He said both Akpoti-Uduaghan and Abubakar Ohere are his siblings from the same senatorial zone. “I accept the decision of the appeal court. And I use this opportunity to congratulate my sister Barrister Natasha as a senator of the Kogi Central senatorial district.

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

The three-member panel, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, upheld the judgment of the state’s election tribunal and dismissed the appeal filed by Ohere.

The court agreed with the submission of counsel for Akpoti-Uduagan for being meritorious.

The panel agreed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to give good reason why it did not collate the results in parts of the senatorial District, particularly Ganaja/Ajaokuta Ward in nine polling units where election was conducted.

The appellate court equally agreed that the results of PDP and its candidate, Akpoti-Uduagan, in about eight polling units where election was conducted and results declared at the polling units, were suppressed by the ward returning officer at the  ward level.

The panel agreed that the votes ought to have been restored and that the state’s election tribunal was right when it restored those votes

Justice Barka, in the judgment, awarded N500,000 against Ohere, the appellant, in the appeal marked: CA/ABJ/EP/SEN/KG/35/2023 between Ohere and another Vs. Akpoti-Uduagan and two others and another N500, 000 against INEC in the appeal marked: CA/ABJ/EP/SEN/KG/57/2023 which the commission filed against Akpoti-Uduaghan and three others.

The Kogi State National and State Election Assemblies Tribunal, had, on September  6, declared Akpoti-Uduagan the validly elected candidate for the senatorial poll.

Speaking shortly after the judgment, Mr. Usman, who appeared for Akpoti-Uduaghan, said justice had been done to the people of Kogi Central Senatorial District.

“It is called the people’s mandate and justice has been done,” he said.

Also speaking, Senator Dino Melaye, the PDP candidate for the November 11 Kogi governorship election, described the judgment as victory for democracy. He said his party would replicate the victory in the November 11 election.