Godwin Tsa, Abuja
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kogi Chapter, said it had accepted in good faith the decision of the Supreme Court.
In a statement by the state Publicity Secretary, Bode Ogunmola, in Lokoja, the party said it accepted in good faith the ruling of the Apex Court and left the “final judgment in the hands of God.”
It commended the party’s flag bearers in the November 16, 2019 Governorship Election, Musa Wada, and his running mate, Sam Aro, for their perseverance.
“While the higher court in the land has given its verdict, the PDP has no choice than to accept it and go ahead to appreciate the resilience of members and the teeming supporters of the party,” the party said.
The party also appreciated its legal team and paid tribute to all those who either died, got maimed or injured during the election.
The Supreme Court, yesterday, dismissed the two appeals challenging the declaration of Yahaya Bello of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as winner of the November 16, 2019 gubernatorial election the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The two appeals were filed by the PDP and its candidate, Musa Wada, as well as the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its own candidate, Natasha Akpoti.
According to the results declared by INEC, Wada of the PDP came second in the election, while Akpoti of the SDP got the third highest number of valid votes.
But in separate judgments, a seven-member panel of Justices led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Ibrahim Tanko, held that both appeals lacked merit.
In the appeal filed by the PDP and its candidate, Justice Inyang Okoro, wrote the lead Judgment that was read by Justice Uwani Abba-Aji.
The apex court unanimously upheld the earlier judgment of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which had on July 4, dismissed the case of the PDP and its candidate, and validated the majority decision of the Kogi State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal that affirmed governor Bello’s election victory.
Justice Abba- Aji said the Supreme Court was satisfied that the the intermediate appellate Court neither denied the appellants fair hearing nor wrongly evaluated their case against the outcome of the Kogi State governorship poll.
“The appellants failed to prove before this court why it should disturb the concurrent findings of the two courts below”, Justice Okoro held in the lead verdict.
The court noted that the Appellants failed to substantiate their case, noting that they adduced evidence with respect to only 24 out of the 729 polling units in the state.
“It is abundantly clear that this appeal is devoid of any scintilla of merit and it is accordingly dismissed,” the court held.