Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, yesterday, earned a huge when the Kogi Election Petition Tribunal dismissed the petition of Musa Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) regarding the gubernatorial elections held in the state on November 16, 2019.
Wada’s suit challenged the emergence of Governor Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the said election, insisting that it was marred by violence, irregularities and 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 hear-say.
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.
Ovbiagele held that Bello was not the duly elected governor of Kogi.
“I hereby nullify the election of Bello and make an order that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) conduct fresh elections within three months from today.”
