The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the appeal of Muritala Ajaka, the Social Democratic Party candidate in the Kogi State governorship election.
Ajaka had contested the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) announcement of the November 11, 2023 election results, which showed Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress as the winner.
Following the dismissal of his petition by the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal, Ajaka filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which was also dismissed.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court unanimously validated Ododo’s victory, refusing to nullify the election as Ajaka asked.
Justice Sadiq Umar issued the lead judgement, which answered all three points raised in the appeal against the appellants.
The Supreme Court ruled that Ajaka’s appeal, designated SC/CV/654/2024, was without merit and dismissed it.
The court’s ruling, “This appeal is hereby dismissed for being incompetent and without merit.”
The Supreme Court also denied the Action Alliance’s petition against its governorship candidate, Olayinka Baimoh.
Braimoh sought to overturn Ododo’s victory in an appeal dated SC/CV/653/2024. However, the Supreme Court dismissed it as incompetent, noting that the notice of appeal was filed after the 14-day deadline set by law.
Umar ruled that while the first objection submitted against the competence of the appeal was valid, it was pointless for the court to evaluate additional arguments brought in the appeal.
He dismissed the appeal and awarded N5 million in costs against the appellants (AA) in favour of the respondents.
Ododo won the Kogi governorship election with 446,237 votes from 13 of the state’s 21 local government areas, while Ajaka came in second place with 259,052 votes from eight LGs.
Dino Melaye, the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate, finished third with 46,362 votes, failing to win any LG.
