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From Godwin Tsa Abuja
The Supreme Court in a marathon proceedings on Friday affirmed the election of three sitting governors of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states after dismissing the appeals challenging their elections.
In three separate judgments, delivered by different panels, the apex court unanimously dismissed the respective appeals for lacking in merit.
In the appeal against Governor Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, the apex Court affirmed his election
after dismissing the appeal of Timipre Sylva, candidate of the APC, in the November 11 election.
In a unanimous judgment, the five-member Apex Court panel led by Justice Lawal Garba, affirmed the Court of Appeal decision of 15 July which deemed Sylva’s appeal an abuse of Court process for filing two notices of appeal.
Placing reliance on section of the 1999 Constitution, the Apex Court panel held that the APC Governorship candidate has only one right to appeal the judgment of the Tribunal and not multiple. The Court therefore faulted the APC Governorship candidate who filed two notices of appeal to the Appellate Court.
The Independent National had declared that governor Diri of the PDP garnered a total of 175,196 votes to defeat his closest rival, Sylva of the APC who polled 110,108 votes.
The appeal against the election of Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi state was equally dismissed by the apex court for lacking in merit and substance.
The dismissed appeal was filed by the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party SDP Yakubu Ajaka failed in his bid to invalidate the November 11,2023 governorship election of Usman Ahmed Ododo.
In a lead judgment delivered by Justice Sadiq Abubakar Umar, the apex court threw out the appeal of Ajaka after resolving all the three issues in dispute against him.
The Supreme Court in the unanimous decision held that Ajaka failed to give cogent and verifiable evidence in the series of allegations against Ododo.
Besides, Justice Umar said that most of the allegations were pre-election matters which ought to have 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.
Justice Umar 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.
The Court of Appeal ln Abuja had on July 11 affirmed Ahmed Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the validly elected governor of Kogi state.
A 3-member panel of the Court had in a unanimous judgment held that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its governorship candidate, Murtala Yakubu Ajaka failed to prove the allegations contained in their petition challenging Ododo’s election beyond reasonable doubt as required by law.
The appellate court had said 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 evidence.
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.
In the case of Imo State, the Supreme Court dismissed two separate appeals filed by the Labour Party LP and the People’s Democratic Party PDP against the declaration of Hope Uzodinma as the elected governor of Imo state.
The appeals of the LP governorship candidate, Athan Achonu and that of PDP Samuel Anyawu were rejected for wants of merit by the Supreme Court and consequently upheld Uzodinma as a lawfully elected governor.
In the lead judgment delivered by Mohammed Baba Idris, the LP and PDP gubernatorial candidates were said to have failed to establish allegations of over voting and other malpractices against the November 11,2023 poll.
The unanimous decisions of the apex court upheld the earlier decisions of the Court of Appeal and that of Imo State Governorship Election Petition which sat in Abuja and dismissed the petitions in their separate judgments.
