The Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on Monday, upheld the election victory of Gov. Usman Ododo of All Progressives Congress, APC, in the Nov. 11, 2023 Kogi governorship poll.
The three-member panel of justices led by Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu held that the petitioners; the social Democratic Party (SDap) and its candidate, Murtala Ajaka, failed to prove the allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 in the petition.
The panel ruled that all the witness evidence filed before it were incompetent and full of inconsistencies.
It also stated that the allegations of forgery raised in the petition against Governor Ododo were pre-election matter, which ought to have been raised 14 days after the documents were submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
It would be recalled that INEC, Ododo and his party, APC, had prayed the tribunal to dismiss Ajaka and SDP’s petition in its entirety for being incompetent and lacking in merit.
