Governor Yahaya Bello
BREAKING: Supreme Court Upholds Yahaya Bello’s Re-election
The Supreme Court of Nigeria (SCN), today, upheld the re-election of Governor Yahaya Bello, as winner of the last governorship election in Kogi State.
The Nation newspaper online reports that in a unanimous judgment delivered a moment ago, the court’s seven-man panel led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko, dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the election, Musa Wada.
Justice John Okoro authored the lead judgment, which was read by Justice Uwani Abba Aji, in which the court held among others, that the appeal was without merit.
The court upheld the concurrent decisions of the trial tribunal and the Court of Appeal that the petitioners failed to prove 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.
In related development, the Supreme Court, has also rejected the request by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its candidate in the last governorship election in Kogi State, Natasha Akpoti for nullification of the election of Governor Yahaya Bello.
In a judgment today, a seven-man panel of the court, led by the Chef Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Muhammad Tanko, was unanimous in dismissing the appeal by the SDP and Akpoti, for lacking in merit.
In the lead judgment authored and delivered by Justice Uwani Abba Aji, the Court said it was unnecessary for to disturb the concurrent decisions of the tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which upheld Bello’s victory at election held on November 16, 2019.
The court held that the SDP and Akpoti failed to lead credible and substantial evidence to support their claims.
