The Supreme Court on Monday upheld the election of Yahaya Bello as the winner of the last governorship election in Kogi State.
In two judgments delivered by Justice Uwan Abba Aji, the court’s seven-man panel, led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Mohammad, dismissed the two appeals decided on Monday.
The first was the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the November 16, 2019 governorship election in the state, Musa Wada.
The second was by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and is candidate, Natasha Akpoti.
In the first judgment, authored by Justice John Okoro and read by Justice Abba Aji, the court resolved the five issues identified for determination against the PDP and Wada.
It held that the appellants were wrong to have claimed that the Court of Appeal denied them fair hearing and that it determined their appeal on issues it raised suo motu (on its own volition).
The apex court also held that, as against the claim by the appellants, the Court of Appeal merely arrived at its conclusion that the forensic expert called by the PDP and Wada at the tribunal (PW19) was not a dactylographer from records of proceedings.
It upheld the position of the lower court on the issue.
The lead judgment in the appeal by the SDP and Akpoti was authored by Justice Abba Aji, who also read it yesterday.
In dismissing the appeal, the court resolved the two issues identified for determination against the appellants.
The court held that the appellants failed to prove their claims that Bello and his running mate were not qualified to have stood for election and that they made false claims about their qualifications to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The court awarded no cost to any party to the two appeals.
Besides Justice Muhammad (the CJN), Justices Okoro and Abba Aji, other members of the panel were: Justices Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, Sylvester Ngwuta, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun and Amina Augie.