THE Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.
The apex court, on Monday, dismissed the appeal of the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Musa Wada, challenging the outcome of the November 16, 2019 governorship election.
The Supreme Court upheld an earlier judgement by the Appeal Court, which had dismissed the case of the PDP and its candidate, and upheld the ruling of the Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which affirmed the victory of the All Progressives Congress’ Governor Bello.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Ibrahim Tanko, led the seven-man panel on the case while Justice Inyang Okoro prepared the lead judgement read by Justice Uwanni Aba-Aji.
“The appellants failed to prove before this court why it should disturb the concurrent findings of the two courts below,” Justice Okoro said.
According to the Supreme Court judgement, the appellants failed to substantiate their case.
They adduced evidence with respect to only 24 out of the 729 polling units in the state, it held, adding that “it is abundantly clear that this appeal is devoid of any scintilla of merit and it is accordingly dismissed.”
The PDP and its candidate had insisted that Bello was not validly elected by the votes cast at the election, alleging that he rigged the election.
In a petition at the tribunal, referenced “EPT/KG/GOV/06/2019”, the PDP and its candidate alleged that the election was invalid by reason of widespread electoral malpractices, violence and substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
They prayed the court to nullify the Certificate of Return issued to Bello by the Independent National Electoral Commission and declare that Wada scored majority of votes cast at the election and fulfilled requirements of Section 179(2)(a) and (b) of the Constitution.
The Petitioners, alternatively, prayed for an order directing INEC to conduct supplementary election in polling units where elections were cancelled.
They hinged their prayer on the fact that the margin of lead between the 2nd Respondent and the 1st Petitioner, was Iess than the registered voters in the cancelled polling units.
But the Supreme Court, in its judgement, held that allegations of corruption raised against the election were criminal in nature, and should have been proved beyond reasonable doubt.
