The Supreme Court on Monday, August 31, corroborated Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the governorship election in Kogi state.
The apex court in a seven-man panel led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko rejected the appeal filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the election, Musa Wada.
PDP and its candidate claimed that governor Bello was not validly elected by majority of lawful votes cast at the election.
They prayed the court to cancel out the Certificate of Return that was issued to governor Bello by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and affirm that Wada scored greater part of votes cast at the election and fulfilled requirements of section 179(2)(a) and (b) of the Constitution.
In its judgment, the court sustained the coexisting results of the trial tribunal and the Court of Appeal that the petitioners failed to verify their claim that Bello was not lawfully returned by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the election held November 16, 2019.
