The Supreme Court has slated verdicts for Friday, January 11, regarding appeals related to gubernatorial disputes in eight states.
The states are Lagos, Kano, Plateau, Zamfara, Abia, Bauchi, Cross-River and Ebonyi states.
On December 19, the court heard and reserved judgments in two appeals concerning the governorship disputes in Lagos State.
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The appeals were filed by Gbadebo Rhodes-Vivour of the Labour Party (LP) and Azeez Adediran of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the election of Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. These appeals contested the decisions of the Court of Appeal in Lagos, which upheld the election tribunal’s dismissal of both appellants’ petitions challenging Sanwo-Olu’s victory.
Another set of appeals related to the governorship election in Kano State was heard on December 21. Abba Yusuf of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) appealed against the decision of the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the election tribunal’s voiding of his victory in the March 18 election. The court decided to hear Yusuf’s main appeal (SC/CV/1179/2023), with the understanding that its decision would be applied to other similar appeals.
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Moving to Plateau State, the apex court heard three appeals on January 9. Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s appeal (SC/CV/1190/2023) was heard, and parties agreed that the decision in this case would be applied to the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), marked SC/CV/1191/2023. The third appeal, filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), was withdrawn as the court deemed the other appeals sufficient to resolve the dispute.
On January 11, the court addressed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the Cross River State governorship election, Senator (Prof) Sandy Ojang Onor, seeking to overturn the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Senator Bassey Edet Otu.
The court also reserved judgment on January 11 for the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the Ogun State governorship election, Oladipupo Adebutu. They sought to overturn the Court of Appeal’s decision affirming the election of Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the Governor of Ogun State.
In another development, three appeals aiming to remove Akwa Ibom state governor Umo Eno of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) were dismissed. The court found that the concurrent judgments by the lower courts effectively addressed the issues raised in these cases, which included claims of forgery and ex-conviction against Governor Eno. The court directed the withdrawal of the appeals, leading to their dismissal.
