A Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday dismissed a suit filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Senator Smart Adeyemi, against Usman Ododo for the party’s candidacy in the last primaries.
In the suit, FHC/CS/556/2023 (Smart Adeyemi v. APC & 2Oaz), the plaintiffs asked the court to nullify the APC’s primaries in which it fielded Ododo as its candidate for the Kogi State governorship election scheduled for November.
According to Vanguard, The plaintiffs argued that the direct election by the APC, which fielded Ododo as its gubernatorial candidate, was illegal. Among other things, they argued that Ododo’s election violated Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution.
It also asked the court for an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission not to recognize Mr. Ododo as the APC’s gubernatorial candidate.
Delivering the judgment, Justice James Omotosho ruled that the suit lacked merit and substance. He further ruled that Adeyemi’s allegations that the election did not take place and that the results were falsified were criminal. It then stated that the applicant must prove beyond reasonable doubt the allegations of forgery and tampering with the results.
According to the court, Senator Adeyemi has the burden of proof to produce either the forged results or both the forged results and the original, and failure to meet this burden “would be fatal to the applicant’s case.”
Justice Omotosho also found that the allegation that the election did not take place was also unproven, as the applicant only submitted evidence from his ward in the Ijumu LGA.
In any event, he said, this evidence was denied by the respondents, who attached the monitoring report of the electoral commission.
In this case, INEC attached the monitoring report, as well as a copy of the election results and a police report signed by the Commissioner of Police confirming the conduct of the elections.”
He added, “In the final analysis, having considered all the evidence in this matter, I do not doubt that the results of the APC primaries took place in all the wards of Kogi State on April 14, 2023.
This Honorable Tribunal will not allow the will of a few like the Applicant to override the will of the majority.” The applicant’s appeal is without merit. It is dismissed.
As a result, the magistrate dismissed the appeal.
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