Election Tribunal upholds Yahaya Bello as duly elected governor
The Kogi Election Petition Tribunal has dismissed the
petition of Mr Musa Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the
election of Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
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Wada was challenging the election of Bello in the Nov. 16,
2019 governorship election in Kogi.
Wada, in his petition, alleged that the election was marred
with violence and other irregularities including corrupt practices.
Delivering the majority judgement, Chairman of the tribunal,
Justice Kashim Kaigama, dismissed Wada’s petition on the grounds that it was
lacking in merit.
The tribunal held that the evidence of some of the witnesses
was contradictory and amounted to documentary hearsay.
The tribunal further awarded a cost of N500,000 to be paid
by each petitioner to each of the respondents.
However, a member of the tribunal, Justice Ohimai Ovbiagele,
disagreed with the judgement.
In his dissenting judgement, Ovbiagele held that Bello was
not the duly elected governor of Kogi.
“I hereby nullify the election of the Bello and make an
order that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct
fresh elections within three months from today.