For the third time, 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.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed his joint appeal with the SDP for lacking in merit and substance.
In Bayelsa State, there was no rocking of the boat as the apex court validated the election of Governnor Duoye Diri, throwing out the appeal of former Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva.
Also, The two separate appeals brought to Supreme Court 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 have been dismissed.
The appeals of the LP governorship candidate, Athan Achonu and that of PDP Samuel Anyawu were rejected for lack of merit by the apex 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.
The final judgments in the contentious governorship appeal cases come on the same day that Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun takes over officially as the acting Chief Justice of Nigeria. She remains in that capacity until she is confirmed by the Senate.
The new acting Chief Justice took the oath of office and signed the oath register at the Council Chamber of the State House, Abuja, on Friday.
Kekere-Ekun comes in at a time public outcry is at its loudest for a complete and surgical reform of a battered judiciary.
In the lead judgment in the Kogi case, delivered by Justice Sadiq Abubakar Umar, the 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.
It will be recalled that the tribunal had on May 27 affirmed the victory of Ododo and APC in the November 11, 2023 Kogi governorship election.
