The Court of Appeal in Abuja has reserved judgment in the appeal filed by Muritala Ajaka, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), challenging the May 27, 2024, judgment of the state election petition tribunal. Ajaka’s appeal contests the tribunal’s decision, which affirmed the November 11, 2023, election victory of Governor Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
A three-member panel of the tribunal had previously ruled that Ajaka and the SDP failed to substantiate allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022. The tribunal held that the evidence presented by the SDP was incompetent and inconsistent, and that allegations of forgery were pre-election matters, which should have been raised within 14 days of the documents being submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
During Thursday’s sitting, the three-member panel of Justices of the appellate court reserved their judgment to a date that will be communicated to the involved parties following the adumbration and adoption of addresses. The respondents urged the court to dismiss Ajaka’s appeal, while the appellants sought to have the cross-appeal dismissed entirely.
Counsel for the respondents argued that the appellants’ appeal lacked merit and pointed out issues of jurisdiction related to the appellant’s requests. They questioned the logic of asking to be declared the winner if they claimed the election was invalid. Citing a Supreme Court decision, the respondents’ counsel stated that the evidence presented by the petitioners was grossly insufficient, with only 25 out of 660 listed witnesses being called, none of whom were polling unit agents. The tribunal had rejected the testimony of Prosecution Witness 1 (PW1) due to the lack of a prior witness deposition.
Joseph Daudu, representing Governor Ododo, supported the tribunal’s decision to reject PW1’s evidence and argued that the appellants failed to prove allegations of over-voting. He urged the appellate court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the tribunal’s judgment.
Emmanuel Ukala, counsel for the APC, also called for the petition’s dismissal due to incompetence. Meanwhile, Pius Akubo, representing Ajaka, urged the court to overturn the tribunal’s judgment and declare Ajaka the rightful winner of the Kogi state governorship election. The appellants argued that the tribunal’s decision was a serious miscarriage of justice and requested the dismissal of the respondents’ cross-appeal.
Kogi state conducted its off-cycle governorship election on November 11, 2023, which resulted in the election of Usman Ododo. Muritala Ajaka, his closest rival, finished second according to the results announced by the electoral body. The Court of Appeal’s judgment remains pending and will be communicated at a later date.
