*Dismisses Wada, Akpoti’s appeals
The Supreme Court has dismissed two appeals against the re-election of Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the governor of Kogi State.
The appeals were filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Musa Wada, and the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its candidate, Natasha Akpoti.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Mr Bello as the winner of the governorship election held in November 2019.
In a unanimous judgement, a seven-member panel of the apex court led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Tanko Mohammed, held that both appeals lack merit and subsequently dismissed them.
On May 23, in a judgement of two-to-one, the tribunal affirmed Mr Bello’s election.
The dissenting judgment by Justice Ohimai Ovbiagele nullified the election of Mr Bello and ordered the electoral umpire to conduct fresh elections in seven local government areas where the petitioners proved their allegations of over-voting, thuggery, voter intimidation, massive thumb printing and other electoral malpractices.
