According to the Nation, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its candidate from the recent Kogi State governorship election, Murtala Ajaka, have appealed to the Court of Appeal to overturn the tribunal's decision that upheld Usman Ododo's victory, representing the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ajaka and the SDP are requesting that the court invalidate Ododo’s win and declare them the victors of the election held on November 11 of the previous year.
This appeal is based on a notice they submitted against the May 27 ruling from the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, led by Justice Ado Yusuf Birnin Kudu, which convened in Abuja.
Represented by their lawyer, Pius Akubo (SAN), the appellants argue that the tribunal’s judgment constituted a significant miscarriage of justice.
In their 31-ground notice of appeal, Ajaka and his party assert that they were the rightful winners of the November 11, 2023, governorship election and should be officially recognized as such.
They seek an appellate court order to reinstate the testimony of their first witness (PW1) and all documents that were initially submitted but later removed from the tribunal's records.
Furthermore, they contend that Ododo was ineligible to run for the governorship, making all votes cast for him and the APC invalid.
Ajaka and the SDP also call for the appellate court to grant the reliefs outlined in their petition, ultimately declaring Ajaka as the duly elected Governor of Kogi State.
They criticize the tribunal's judgment for inconsistency, pointing out that while the tribunal acknowledged the timely filing of their petition and the occurrence of over-voting, it still upheld the election results.
They remarked, "In their confusion they (members of the tribunal’s three-member panel) ruled that PW1 who displayed the documents with which they agreed there was over voting is not clear to them. They claimed they did not know if he was INEC staff or not.
It was the tribunal that ordered INEC to provide the BVAS and someone who will power and display the BVAS in court and that PW1 came to the court with a certified letter from INEC stating that he was indeed the representative of INEC.
PW1 was in the court with his identity card and other supporting documents to show he is INEC staff.”
The appellants further argued that "the election of November 11, 2023, in Kogi State was not conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act. 2022 as well as manual and guidelines involving the conduct of elections having regards to the numerous instances of over voting."
They demonstrated through various forms and documents that they received the majority of lawful votes and not Ododo and the APC.
Ajaka and the SDP maintain that if the votes affected by over-voting were removed, they, not the APC, would hold the majority of lawful votes.
The appellants presented all necessary election forms and documents, illustrating that the second respondent did not achieve the majority of lawful votes as the tribunal had concluded.