Kogi State Governorship Tribunal: Supreme Court Upturns Appeal Court judgement, Orders Immediate Resumption of Tribunal Hearing

By Gabriel Agbonika.

Final hearing on the 2023 Governorship Election Petition filed by Muritala Yakubu Ajaka/ SDP against the purported declaration of Usman Ododo of APC as Kogi State Governor, will resume on Monday11, 2024 in Abuja. This followed the unambiguous intervention Judgement of the Supreme Court on Thursday last week, ordering a stay of execution judgement given on 1/3/2024 by the Court of Appeal. The Appeal Court hastily suspended the ongoing verification materials at the Petition Tribunal in Abuja on 1/3/2024 on the false claims that the defendant, Usman Ododo, was excluded from the inspection exercise carried out by INEC late last year.

The intervention Judgement by the Supreme Court has put a final stop to the delaying tactics and all manner of obstacles and violent activities employed by the defendant, Usman Ododo and APC, to frustrate and deny early final judgement on the case.
In the Supreme Court judgement of 7/3/2024, it was specifically declared, “thec Supreme Court hereby restored and sustained Order G, K and N of the Tribunal made on 25/11/2023”
It will be recalled that shortly after the declaration of Usman Ododo as elected governor of Kogi State, the SDP Governorship candidate, Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka, represented by Jibrin Okutepa, S.A.N filed a petition at the State Governorship Election Tribunal challenging the controversial declaration. He believes strongly that he, and not Ododo, won the election and should therefore be declared the rightful governor of Kogi State. INEC began process of the trial almost immediately leading to the order, G, K and N made on 25/11/ 2023, directing all those involved in the suit to inspect the relevant electoral materials appropriately.
At the resumed sitting of the trial last month, INEC directed SDP legal team headed by J. Okutepa to carry out verification of the necessary documents for the next stage of the trial. But mid-way into the process, APC candidate in election, Usman Ododo ran to the Court of Appeal and obtained a judicial order to suspend the verification process. Angered by the development, J. Okutepa SAN and his legal team approached Supreme Court for urgent judicial judgement on the case. Now that the Apex court has given its verdict, it is the responsibility of INEC and all those involved in the trial to start from where they were rudely stopped through the unnecessary Appeal Court order of 1/3/2024.