Supreme Court Affirms Ododo’s Election As Kogi Governor, Throws Out Ajaka’s Appeal

• Achonu, Anyanwu, Sylva, Ajaka’s Cases Thrown Out

The election of Usman Ododo as the Governor of Kogi State has been affirmed by the Supreme Court.

Ododo’s election was affirmed in a judgment delivered on Friday, by a five-member panel which also dismissed the appeal filed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Murtala Ajaka, its governorship candidate.

In its unanimous judgment on Friday, the apex Court held that the SDP candidate failed to prove his allegations of an invalid election and non-compliance to the electoral act.

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It subsequently dismissed the appeal for “lacking in merit”.

The panel held that the appeal marked SC/CV/654/2024 was void of merit.

Sadiq Umar, who authored and read the lead judgment, resolved all the three issues brought for determination in the appeal against the appellants.

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The apex court also dismissed the appeal by the Action Alliance (AA) and its candidate, Olayinka Baimoh, against Ododo’s victory.

The court held that the appeal marked SC/CV/653/2024 was incompetent because the notice was filed outside the 14 days permitted by law.

The court proceeded to dismiss the appeal and award a cost of N5 million against the appellants and in favour of the respondents.