Tribunal Affirms Election Of Kogi Gov Ododo

By Ayodele Oni

The Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate in the Kogi State, Murtala Ajaka, has again lost at the State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja.

In the judgment delivered on Monday, the tribunal ruled against Ajaka and upheld election of Governor Usman Ahmed Ododo.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the election.

The Election Petition Tribunal  affirmed the election of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11, 2023 election inKogi State, Governor Usman Ahmed Ododo.

The three-member panel of justices, headed by Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu, held that the petition filled by the Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mr Murtala Ajaka was bereft of substance thus, dismissed.

The panel of Justices also held that the petitioners; the SDP and its candidate, Murtala Ajaka, failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 in their petition.

Accordingly, the Tribunal panel members unanimously held that all the witness’ evidence filed before it were incompetent and full of inconsistencies.

The panel members agreed with the submissions of the respondents that the allegations of forgery raised in the petition were pre-election matters which ought to have been raised 14 days after the documents were submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The parties in the petition had adopted their final written addresses in the course of the proceedings.

In the petition, INEC, Ododo and the APC are listed as the 1st to 3rd respondents respectively.

When the case was called on Friday, April 26, INEC, Ododo and APC’s lawyers opposed the move by Jibrin Okutepa (SAN) to lead the witness, Edidiong Udoh, a digital forensic expert, in evidence.

Chief Kanu Agabi (SAN); Alex Iziyon (SAN) and Emmanuel Ukala (SAN), who appeared for INEC, Ododo and APC respectively argued that the petitioners did not list the name of the witness in their proof of evidence and that the witness statement on oath was not front-loaded alongside the petition.

They also contended that the petitioners served the reports of the witness’ analysis on them 20 minutes before the commencement of the proceedings.

But Okutepa insisted that the forensic expert was listed on Page 56 of the petition as item 10, adding that his statement was also front-loaded.