Supreme court upholds Ododo’s election as Kogi governor, dismisses Ajaka’s appeal

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which had on July 11, 2024, affirmed Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner of the November 11, 2023, governorship election in Kogi State.

Consequently, the Supreme Court held that the appeal by the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Muritala Ajaka, challenging the declaration of Ododo as governor of Kogi State was lacking in merit.

The apex court panel agreed with the judgement of the appellate court, which held that the case of Ajaka, was unmeritorious, and consequently dismissed same.

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A 3-man panel of the Court of Appeal had resolved all the four issues, identified for determination by the panel, in favour of the respondents.

The panel had reasoned that the appellant (Ajaka) did not substantially prove allegations of over-voting, and certificate forgery, among others, levelled against Ododo and his party.

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.