Kogi guber: CSO accuses SDP of filing petition through back door

United Front for Democracy (UFD) has said the Social Democratic Party (SDP) has not filed any petition against the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Ahmed Ododo, at the election petition tribunal.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the APC candidate winner of the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State.

The Civil Society Organisation (CSO) also accused SDP of trying to smuggle in its petition through the back door against the 21 days window allowed by the electoral laws.

Addressing newsmen, yesterday, in Lokoja, Convener of UFD, Yetunde Suaubu, said the organisation was speaking out due to itscommitment to democratic values and to ensure that the judiciary was not slaughtered on the slab of political desperation and corruption.

She said: “Our organisation has credible intelligence that the SDP candidate is yet to file its petition against Ododo, 22 days after the declaration of results. The results of the election were declared on Sunday, November 12, 2023.’’

“The 21 days window elapsed on the midnight of December 3, 2023. Section 134 of the Electoral Act is very clear as to when an electoral petition can be filed with all allegations and evidence relating to the petition front-loaded. By virtue of Section 134 of the Electoral Act, the SDP has failed to file its petition within the period allowed by law and should, therefore, be made not to waste the time of the panel.”

Wisdom of the Electoral Act, she asserted, is that anyone with credible evidence should be able to put such forward within the legally stipulated period.

The convener, however, expressed disappointment that the SDP was about to lose the opportunity to test the law with a competent petition, especially when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the African Democratic Congress (ADC) opted to avoid the embarrassment of searching in futility for evidence by deciding not to challenge the election at the tribunal.

But spokesman for SDP, Faruk Adejo-Audu, denied that the party has not filed its petition, arguing: “It is a way of discrediting the tribunal because APC knows well that the November 11 governorship election in the state cannot and would not stand the test of time.

“How will the tribunal grant our legal team access to the inspection, as it did last week, of election materials, if we have not filed any petition? They know that it will not stand the test of scrutiny that is why they are contracting faceless groups to malign the characters of the tribunal and its members.”