The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal filed by Muritala Ajaka, the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate in the Kogi State governorship election.
Ajaka had contested the results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) following the November 11, 2023, election, which declared Usman Ododo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner.
After his initial petition was dismissed by the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal, Ajaka took his case to the Court of Appeal in Abuja, where his appeal was again dismissed. The five-member panel of the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, upheld Ododo’s victory, rejecting Ajaka’s request to annul the election.
In the lead judgement delivered by Justice Sadiq Umar, the court addressed all three issues raised in Ajaka’s appeal, ruling that the appeal, marked SC/CV/654/2024, lacked merit. Justice Umar stated, “This appeal is hereby dismissed for being incompetent and without merit.”
The Supreme Court also dismissed a separate appeal by the Action Alliance (AA) and its governorship candidate, Olayinka Braimoh, who sought to overturn Ododo’s victory. The court found Braimoh’s appeal, marked SC/CV/653/2024, to be incompetent, noting that it was filed beyond the 14-day period permitted by law. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, and a cost of N5 million was awarded against the appellants in favour of the respondents.
In the Kogi governorship election, Ododo emerged victorious with a total of 446,237 votes, winning 13 out of the 21 local government areas in the state. Ajaka, the runner-up, won eight local government areas with a total of 259,052 votes.
Dino Melaye, the candidate for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), finished third, securing 46,362 votes but failing to win any local government areas. A total of 18 candidates participated in the election.
