Victor Ezeja
The Supreme Court has upheld the rulings of lower courts that affirmed the victory of three sitting governors of Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states in the November 11, 2023 poll.
In separate rulings on Friday, 23rd August, the apex court dismissed the appeals filed by opposition candidates in the elections.
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For Bayelsa, the apex court dismissed the appeal by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Timipre Sylva, and his party.
In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Garba Lawal, the court held that the appeal by Mr Sylva and APC lacked merit and was a gross abuse of the court process.
In a unanimous judgment, the apex court upheld the earlier decisions of the Court of Appeal and the election petition tribunal on the election of Douye Diri.
Diri, who sought re-election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared winner of the governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, Sylva, a former minister of state for Petroleum Resources, rejected the outcome and went ahead to challenge it.
He was trounced at the governorship election petition tribunal and subsequently defeated by Diri at the Court of Appeal Abuja, which ruled that the appeal filed by the appellants, Mr Sylva and APC lacked merit.
Kogi State
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court ruled that the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its candidate, Muritala Ajaka, had no basis in their appeal, against the judgment of the Court of Appeal on the election of Ododo, and therefore dismissed it.
Also, the appeal filed by the Action Alliance (AA) and Olayinka Braimoh, their candidate for the Kogi governorship on 11 November 2023, to nullify Mr. Ododo’s election victory was likewise dismissed by the apex court.
In his ruling, Justice Sadiq Umar declared that the appeal filed by Mr. Ajaka and the SDP was baseless and dismissed it.
Imo State
In the case of Imo State, the Supreme Court dismissed two separate appeals filed by the Labour Party LP and the People’s Democratic Party PDP against the declaration of Hope Uzodimma as the elected governor of Imo state.
The appeals of the LP governorship candidate, Athan Achonu and that of PDP Samuel Anyawu were rejected for want of merit by the Supreme Court and consequently upheld Uzodimma as a lawfully elected governor.
In the lead judgment delivered by Mohammed Baba Idris, the LP and PDP gubernatorial candidates were said to have failed to establish allegations of over voting and other malpractices against the November 11, 2023 poll.
The unanimous decisions of the apex court upheld the earlier decisions of the Court of Appeal and that of Imo State Governorship Election Petition, which sat in Abuja and dismissed the petitions in their separate judgments.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with seven years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Master's degree in Mass Communication.
