Reprieve as S’Court upholds victories of Govs. Diri, Ododo, Uzodimma

BY ANDREW OROLUA

The Supreme Court of Nigeria on Friday upheld the election victories of three state governors : Douye Diri of Bayelsa State, Ahmed Ododo of Kogi State and Hope Uzodimma of Imo State as duly elected in their respective states on the governorship election held on November 11, 2023.

In separate judgements, the apex court affirmed the concurrent decisions of Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, Kogi State Governorships Election Petition Tribunal and Imo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the judgements of Court of Appeal n respect of each of the three states.

Delivering the lead judgement on the appeal filed by governorship candidate of All Progressives Congress, APC, Timipre Sylvia and his party against Governor Douye Diri, the Presiding Justice Garba Lawal held that the appeal was not only lacking in merit but a gross abuse of court process.

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Supreme Court agreed with Court of Appeal unanimous judgment of July 18 that People Democratic Party, PDP, which sponsored Douye Diri won the majority of the lawful votes cast at the November 11, 2023 election.

Recall that Justice Adekunle Adeleye-led three-member tribunal had on May 27, dismissed the election petition filed by Sylvia against Governor Diri’s re-election on same ground that it lacked merit.

The tribunal had held that both Sylva and APC failed to adduce any credible evidence to substantiate any of the allegations they raised against the outcome of the governorship poll.

In same vein, Supreme court found that the appeal brought by the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, Muritala Yakubu Ajaka against Governor Ahmed Ododo was without any merit and substance.

A lead judgment delivered by Justice Sadiq Abubakar Umar 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 in 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.

Apex court also dismissed 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 Uzodimma 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.