The contention over the right candidate to fly the flag of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Kogi State appears set for a long-drawn battle. Though the governorship election committee headed by ex-governor Bello Matawalle had submitted its report of the primaries conducted on April 14, and returned Alhaji Usman Ododo, the contenders are not letting go, as they await the verdict of the Court of Appeal on the seemingly endless battle.
On July 12, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, ruled on a suit filed by Senator Smart Adeyemi challenging the return of Alhaji Usman Ododo as the governorship candidate of the party.
Ruling in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/556/23, Justice Omotosho declared that the appellant’s (Senator Adeyemi) originating summons lacked merit. He said that Senator Adeyemi did not prove his claim and that Ododo had not been validly elected. Justice Omotosho noted that the burden of proof was on the applicant to produce the original copies of the results to discharge the burden and added that failure to discharge the burden was fatal to the applicant’s case. The court held that contrary to the plaintiff’s position, there was evidence that the primary election was validly held and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC.) He appeared to agree with the submission of counsel to Ododo, who had submitted that the Appeal Committee of the APC electoral panel had listened to Adeyemi’s appeal shortly after the primary election and that the Senator did not prove his allegations before the Appeal Committee.
Records of the processes at the Federal High Court had provided details of the report of the Appeal Committee partly relied upon by the trial judge to make his ruling. “That all the petitions are devoyuoid of merit having not been substantiated by evidence. All the appellants did was make unsubstantiated allegations without the necessary particulars such as names, place, ward, and Local Government Areas. The appellants also failed to supply particulars and /or proof which could enable the committee verify the veracity of the allegations made,” the APC committee had told the court.
Dissatisfied by the ruling of Justice Omotosho, counsels to Senator Adeyemi immediately filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, where they claimed that the trial judge erred in law to have attempted to give a legal cover to the APC primary in Kogi State.
The counsels further denied making any forgery allegation and averred that the claims of the applicant in the suit only bothered APC’s non-adherence to the constitution, the rules and guidelines of the APC as regards the conduct of primaries.
On August 9, a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, led by Justice Muhammed Lawal Shuaibu, and including Justice Abdullazees Wasiri and Justice H.A Abiru heard that appeal in the suit with reference number CA/ABJ/CV/819/2023. The panel had since deferred ruling on the matter till a later date.
Court documents available to the Nigerian Tribune indicate that Adeyemi, through his counsels, M.J. Numa, (SAN), and Dr. Adekunle Otitoju had asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja, to void the ruling of the Federal High Court on “five cogent grounds” of appeal, which they said were “construed from the erroneous findings of the learned trial judge.
