Achimugu withdraws case against Ododo as S’Court rules on Adeyemi’s suit Oct 23
29 September 2023 |
3:05 am
Governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, AbubakarAchimugu, has finally lost his suit seeking to nullify the primary election of the party, which produced Usman Ododo as the governorship candidate for the November 11 polls.
Governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State, Abubakar Achimugu, has finally lost his suit seeking to nullify the primary election of the party, which produced Usman Ododo as the governorship candidate for the November 11 polls.
The appeal was dismissed, yesterday, by a panel of Supreme Court justices, including John Okoro, Helen Ogunwunmiju, AdamuJarrow, Emmanuel Agim and TijaniAbubakar, having been withdrawn by the appellant.
Achimugu had approached the trial court seeking to disqualify Ododo on the ground that he did not resign his employment with the Kogi State public service 30 days before contesting the governorship primary.
But the trial court, in its judgment, held that contrary to Achimugu’s claim, evidence showed that Ododo resigned his appointment more than 30 days before participating in the primary, and subsequently dismissed the suit.
According to Justice Egwuatu, exhibits tendered by the defendants showed that while Ododo’s resignation letter was received by the Office of the Kogi State Governor on March 8, that of the third defendant, Salami Deedat, was received on March 9.
The court asked the appellant’s counsel why the issues for determination in his brief did not have any challenge as to why the decision of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal were perverse.
In view of this omission, the appellant’s counsel was advised to withdraw the appeal. Accordingly, Achimugu withdrew his appeal and the case was dismissed.
HOWEVER, the Supreme Court, yesterday, in Abuja fixed October 23 for final judgment in a suit filed by Senator Smart Adeyemi challenging the April 14, 2023 primary election of APC for Kogi.
Adeyemi is challenging the validity of the election, which produced Ododo as APC’s flagbearer for the November 11 governorship poll. His grouse is that the provisions of Electoral Act 2022 and APC guidelines were compromised during the primary.
Specifically, Adeyemi, who recently represented Kogi West in the Senate, claimed that the result creditedOdodo was fraudulent and invalid, on the ground that the primary election was conducted in only 11 out of 239 wards in the state.
A Federal High Court in Abuja and the Court of Appeal also in Abuja, had in separate judgments, dismissed Adeyemi’s claims on the ground that the allegations of malpractice were not proved as required by law, prompting him to move to Supreme Court.
At yesterday’s hearing of the appeal at the Supreme Court, Adeyemi’s lawyer, MusibawuAdetunmbi (SAN), after adopting his briefs, prayed the apex court to grant the reliefs sought by his client.
The senior lawyer argued that the primary election of April 14 was conducted in gross violation of Section 84 of the Electoral Act, 2022. He claimed that election did not hold in 228 wards and that field officers of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) supported the claim in their report on the election.
However, the APC, represented by AbdulWahab Mohammed, prayed the Supreme Court panel, headed by Justice John Okoro, to dismiss Adeyemi’s appeal on the ground that it is against the concurrent findings of fact by the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.
INEC, represented by AdeyemiAdeniyi (SAN), after adopting its briefs, told the apex court that the appeal was grossly incompetent and that the decision of the two lower courts should be affirmed because there was no allegation of perversion of justice in the decisions of the courts. Justice Okoro, after listening to arguments from the parties, announced that the final judgment would be delivered on October 23.
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