Supreme Court okays Diri, Ododo, Uzodinma’s election as Bayelsa, Kogi, Imo governors

The Supreme Court on Friday, August 23, affirmed the reelection of Duoye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Hope Uzodinma of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as governors of Bayelsa and Imo states for their second term.

The apex court also affirmed the election of Ahmed Ododo of the APC as the governor of Kogi State.

The court, in six judgments on Friday, dismissed all the cases seeking to void the victory recorded by Diri, Ododo, and Uzodinma in the governorship elections held in their states on November 11, 2023.

The first judgment was on the appeal, marked: SC/CV/648/2024 by Sylva and the APC in which they had prayed the court to among others, set aside the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which earlier affirmed the judgment of the election tribunal, upholding Diri’s victory.

The apex court’s five-member panel was unanimous in affirming the earlier decision by the Court of Appeal that Sylva was wrong to have filed multiple notices of appeal against a single judgment of the election petition tribunal.

Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, in the lead judgment held that it was wrong for Sylva and his party to file more than one notice of appeal against the single final judgment of the election tribunal.

Other members of the panel – Justice Ibrahim Saulawa, Tijani Abubakar, Sadiq Umar, and Mohammed Idris – agreed with the lead judgment.

As agreed by lawyers to parties when the appeal was heard on August 19, the judgment in the appeal marked: SC/CV/648/2024 was applied to the other four appeals which arose from the same judgment given by the election tribunal in the petition filed by Sylva and the APC.

The other four are marked: SC/CV/650/2024, SC/CV/650A/2024, SC/CV/650B/2024 and SC/CV/650C/2024.

In the second judgment, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal by the National Rescue Movement (NRM) and its candidate in the last governorship election in Bayelsa State, Micah Akeems.

A five-member panel of the court held that the appeal was without merit because the case was based on a pre-election issue of alleged supply of false information.

The court affirmed the earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal that the sole issue on which Governor Duoye Diri’s reelection was challenged by the appellants was a pre-election issue on which the election tribunal has no jurisdiction.

Justice Garba also authored and read the lead judgment in the appeal.

The NRM and Akeems had claimed that the Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo submitted a forged National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in his form 001 and EC9.

In the third judgment, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal by the Action Alliance (AA) and its candidate in the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Kogi State, Olayinka Baimoh, seeking to void the victory of Ododo in election.

A five-member panel of the court was unanimous in holding that the appeal, marked: SC/CV/653/2024, was incompetent, the notice of appeal having been filed outside the 14 days allowed by law for the filing of such notice.

Justice Sadiq Umar, who read the lead judgment, held that since the preliminary objection filed against the competence of the appeal was meritorious, it was of no use for the court to consider other issues raised in the appeal.

He proceeded to dismiss the appeal and awarded a cost of N5 million against the appellants and in favour of the respondents.

In the fourth judgment, a five-member of the apex court was unanimous in dismissing the appeal by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and candidate Yakubu Muritala Ajaka, marked: SC/CV/654/2024 was without merit, and proceeded to dismiss it.

Justice Sadiq Umar, who authored and read the lead judgment resolved all the three issues identified for determination in the appeal against the appellants.

In the fifth judgment, the Supreme Court affirmed the reelection of Governor Uzodinma and dismissed the appeal by the Labour Party (LP) and its candidate, Athan Achonu for being unmeritorious.

Justice Mohammed Baba Idris, who authored and read the lead judgment, resolved the three issues identified for determination against the appellants.

Justice Idris found that the appellants as petitioners at the election tribunal, failed to prove their case as required.

He proceeded to affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the decision of the election tribunal, dismissing the appellants’ petition.

The apex court, in the sixth judgment, dismissed the appeal of the PDP and its candidate in the last governorship election in Imo State, Samuel Anyawu.

In a unanimous judgment, a five-member panel of the court held that the appeal was without merit.

Justice Idris, in the lead judgment, resolved all the issues raised for determination in the appeal against the appellants.

The Nation