On Friday, the Supreme Court delivered two significant rulings, affirming Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the validly elected Governor of Kogi State and upholding the re-election of Hope Uzodinma, also of the APC, as Governor of Imo State.
In Kogi State, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Muritala Ajaka, alongside his party, challenged the Court of Appeal’s decision, which had upheld the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal’s ruling in favor of Ododo. A five-member panel of the Supreme Court justices unanimously dismissed Ajaka’s appeal, citing that the allegations of substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Act were unproven. The court further ruled that issues of age falsification and certificate forgery were pre-election matters, falling under the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared that Usman Ododo won the election with 446,237 votes, defeating Muritala Ajaka, who received 259,052 votes.
Similarly, in Imo State, the Supreme Court affirmed the re-election of Governor Hope Uzodinma. The court dismissed the appeal by the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Athan Achonu, as unmeritorious. Justice Mohammed Baba Idris, who delivered the lead judgment, noted that the appellants failed to prove their case. Consequently, the court upheld the decisions of both the election tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which had previously dismissed the petition filed by the Labour Party.
These rulings put an end to the legal disputes surrounding the governorship elections in both Kogi and Imo States.
