The motion by Yakubu Muritala Ajaka, the Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) candidate in the last governorship election in Kogi State, has been dismissed by the Supreme Court.
Ajaka and his party have filed an appeal, SC/CV/654/2024, requesting that the Supreme Court overturn the concurrent decisions of the Court of Appeal and the election tribunal that upheld Ahmed Usman Ododo’s victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the November 11 election.
He advised the court to wait for the outcome of his request for a full panel to examine an issue made in his appeal.
At the hearing on Monday, Ododo and the SDP’s lawyer, Pius Akubo, told the court that his client had written to the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) requesting the formation of a full panel of the court to hear issues raised in Paragraphs 4.28 and 4.29 of the appellant’s brief of argument on page 16.
Akubo stated that the appellants are paying the court to diverge from its previous decisions in deciding their appeal under both articles.
The respondents’ lawyers, Kanu Agabi (SAN) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joseph Daudu (SAN) for Ododo, and Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) for the APC, all regarded the application as needless and urged the court, as it stands, to hear the appeal.
Justice Garba added that the issue was one of three cited in the appeal. He ruled that the court, as it currently stands, could hear and decide the appeal. Justice Garba then directed Akubo to proceed with the hearing of the appeal.
Akubo recognised his papers, adopted them, and requested the court to approve the appeal, overturn the Court of Appeal’s ruling, and declare Ajaka as Kogi State’s legitimately elected governor.
Agabi, Daudu, and Ukala, for their part, accepted their submissions and petitioned the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the Court of Appeal’s judgement. Justice Garba then deferred the judgement until a date to be informed to the parties.
