By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
The Supreme Court of Nigeria will on August 31, 2020 deliver judgement on the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its gubernatorial candidate, Mr Musa Wada.
The date was fixed after arguements/submission by parties on the appeal by Mr Wada and PDP challenging the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Yahaya Bello as the Governor of Kogi State.
PDP had contended that its candidate won the November 16, 2019 governorship election while on his part, Musa Wada claimed that the election which brought in Mr. Bello as governor of the state was riddled with serious electoral malpractices
The appeal which came up for hearing at the Apex Court on Tuesday, August 25, was sequel to the July 4, 2020 judgements of the Abuja Division of the Appeal Court which affirmed the victory of Yahaya Bello in the November 16, 2019 governorship election in Kogi State.
In separate judgements of the Court of Appeal, all of which were unanimous, the five-man panel of the court led by Justice Adamu Jauro had dismissed the four appeals for lacking in merit. The appeals dismissed were filed by PDP, SDP, Democratic People’s Party, and Actions Peoples Party.
The Court of Appeal had in separate judgments dismissed four cases challenging the outcome of the poll, but only three of the appellants were able to file their appeals at the Supreme Court within the time stipulated by law.
Recall that on May 23, 2020, the three-man Kogi State Governorship Election Tribunal which sat in Abuja had in a split judgement of two against one, dismissed the petition by PDP and its governorship candidate, Musa Wada, and affirmed Bello’s re-election on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The majority judgement of the Justice Kashim Kaigama-led three-man tribunal dismissed Wada’s petition, while the minority judgement by Justice Ohimai Ovbiagele upturned Bello’s victory and ordered a rerun in seven local government areas of the state.
However, dissatisfied with the Court of Appeal in its July 4, 2020 judgement which unanimously affirmed the tribunal’s majority decision, PDP and Mr Wada approached the Apex Court for reversal of the judgement.
