Kogi guber: PDP’s Wada reacts to tribunal judgement, reveals next line of action

The Peoples Democratic Party Candidate in the 2019 Kogi governorship election, Musa Wada, has reacted to the tribunal judgement of Saturday.

POLITICS NIGERIA earlier reported how the Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja, dismissed Mr Wada’s petition and affirmed the victory of Governor Yahaya Bello.

According to the results from the electoral commission, Mr Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 406,222 votes to defeat Mr Wada who polled 189,704 votes in the governorship election. POLITICS NIGERIA, civil society organisations and independent observers reported how the election held in November 2019, was marred by irregularities.

However, Mr Wada, approached the tribunal to challenge the victory of Bello, urging it to uphold the petition and declare Wada as the duly elected governor of Kogi state.

Meanwhile, while delivering the judgement on Saturday, two out of three judges on the panel upheld Bello’s election as governor. Justice Kashim Kaigama, who headed the three-man bench, and another member, Justice Baraka Wali, held that the petitioners failed to prove any of the grounds of their petition.

Nevertheless, Justice Ohimai Ovbiagele in his minority judgment supported Mr Wada by nullifying the results in seven out of the 21 local government areas in the state.

He also sacked Mr Bello as the winner of the disputed election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh election in seven local governments within three months. Reacting to the judgement, Mr Wada has vowed to appeal the Judgment of the election tribunal which dismissed his petition.
Mr Wada told Channels Television that “the dissenting judgment is a clear indication that the election of Mr Bello was flawed.”

He insisted that the majority Judgment of the tribunal is not a true representation of the events of November 2019.