The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of governor Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in off cycle election held in Kogi State on November 11, 2023.
In a unanimous judgment, the Apex Court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal which on 27 May, affirmed the election of Ododo.
By the judgement, the Apex court dismissed the appeal of Murtala Ajaka, candidate of the Social Democratic Party SDP contesting the outcome of the off cycle poll.
Specifically, the Five-man panel of the Apex Court held the allegation of substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act was not proven by the SDP governorship candidate.
The judgement added that allegations of age falsification and certificate forgery are pre-election matters, which it has jurisdiction to hear.
Consequent to the above, the court dismissed Ajaka’s appeal for lacking merit.
INEC had announced that Ododo polled a total of 446,237 votes to defeat Ajaka who came second with 259,052 votes.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Ododo, as winner of the November 11, 2023 Kogi State Governorship election.
The State Returning Officer, Prof Johnson Urama, announced that Ododo polled 446,237 votes, to beat his closest rival, Murtala Ajaka of the SDP, who got 259,052.
Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) recorded 46,362 votes to place 3rd.
But not satisfied with the result released by INEC, the petitioners approached the tribunal seeking an overturn of the election, and an order directing INEC to conduct a fresh election in about five LGAs.
However, the tribunal dismissed the petition and affirmed the election of Ododo while holding that the petitioner could not prove that the governor presented a forged certificate, among other things.
