By Ikechukwu Nnochiri

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, affirmed the election of Governor Usman Ododo of Kogi State.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel of Justices, dismissed as lacking in merit, an appeal the Social Democratic Party, SDP, and its candidate, Muritala Ajaka, filed to challenge the outcome of the governorship election that held in the state on November 11, 2023.

The court, in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Onyekachi Otisi, said it found no reason to dislodge the verdict of the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which had earlier validated Ododo’s election victory.

The Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu led tribunal had on May 27, held that Ajaka of the SDP, failed to prove his allegation that governor Ododo, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, did not secure the highest number of valid votes cast at the election.

It equally dismissed Ajaka’s allegation that the election was not only fraught with irregularities, but also conducted with substantial non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

The tribunal declined to nullify the result the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared in favour of Ododo and the APC.

It will be recalled that INEC had announced that Ododo polled a total of 446,237 votes to defeat Ajaka who came second with 259,052 votes.

Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, came a distant third with 46,362 votes.

Though Melaye declined to challenge the outcome of the election, however, Ajaka approached the tribunal to void the Certificate of Return that was issued to the APC candidate, Ododo, and to order a fresh election in about five Local Government Areas in the state.

Ajaka, who called a total of 25 witnesses, equally accused the APC candidate of tendering forged documents to INEC.

He alleged that there was over voting in five LGAs, including Adavi, Okene and Okehi.

However, in its judgement, the tribunal faulted the competence of the case, noting that statements of the witnesses were not filed alongside the petition as required by the law.

It, therefore, expunged all the evidence that were laid through the witnesses, stressing that some of them were hearsay evidence.

The tribunal further noted that the petitioners failed to produce polling unit agents to establish that there were irregularities.

It held that allegation forgery, being criminal in nature, ought to be proved beyond every reasonable doubt.

It dsmissed the petition and affirmed governor Ododo’s election victory, a judgement the appellate court upheld on Thursday.