The Supreme Court has upheld the election of Yahaya Bello as the governor
of Kogi State.
A seven-man panel of the court said reasons for upholding the election
would be provided on September 30.
The court which held all the nation on tenterhooks, while awaiting the
judgement dismissed all the appeals filed by all the parties against
Bello’s election last year.
It dismissed the appeal by James Faleke, the deputy governorship candidate
of Abubakar Audu, who died before the election result was announced and
who was substituted in the supplementary election by Bello.
Faleke contended that Audu had won the election and there was no need for
the supplementary election. He argued further that as the joint holder of
Audu’s ticket, he should be declared the winner of the election.
But the justices did not agree with him.
His appeal was dismissed for lacking in merit. The justices affirmed the
decisions of the lower courts.
The court also dismissed former Governor Idris Wada’s case against Bello.
Also dismissed were appeals filed by the ADC and the Labour Party.
The justices said reasons for all the failed applications would be given
on Friday, the 30th of September, 2016.
There were five appeals in all against the Court of Appeal rulings which
upheld the election of Governor Bello.
Audu of the All Progressives Congress died before the final announcement
of results election conducted on November 21, 2015 by the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC). The election was declared
inconclusive.
The re-run held on December 5, 2015 saw the emergence of Bello who became
the torch bearer of the party after the death of Audu.
Alhaji Wada, who contested the election on the platform of the Peoples
Democratic Party, PDP, and Mr. Faleke had approached the Supreme Court in
August challenging Mr. Bello’s victory at the Court of Appeal.
The appellate court had upheld an earlier judgement in June by the Kogi
State Governorship Election Tribunal, which gave victory to the governor.
The tribunal in the judgment read by its chairman, Justice Halima
Mohammed said Mr. Faleke’s petition lacked merit and therefore threw it
out.
The tribunal further held that the fact that INEC declared the first
election inconclusive meant no winner had emerged.
It also said that all votes belonged to political parties and not the
candidate who contested on their platforms.
It said Mr. Faleke had no locus standi to challenge Mr. Bello’s nomination
by the APC to replace Mr. Audu as he (Audu) was not the governor-elect.