The Supreme Court has thrown out an appeal by Senator Smart Adeyemi challenging Ahmed Usman Ododo’s emergence as the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate in Kogi State.
In a unanimous judgement by Justice Emmanuel Ajim-led panel on Monday, the Supreme Court held that the appeal lacked merit.
“On the whole, this whole appeal fails for lack of merit,” Ajim said.
Adeyemi had challenged the primary that produced Ododo as the party’s standard bearer for the November 11 governorship election in Kogi State.
However, the panel held that Adeyemi failed to show that the judgement of the court that is based on concurrent findings of fact by both the high court and the Court of Appeal were perverse.
The panel awarded the sum of N1 million each to the APC and Ododo.
Adeyemi’s suit with number: FHC/ABJ/CS/556/2023 asked the Federal High Court to declare APC’s primary that produced Usman Ododo as the candidate as illegal, unlawful and invalid for the November governorship election.
Adeyemi noted that the primary was not held as provided in the law.
But it was dismissed by Justice James Omotosho in July.
Justice Omotosho had noted that the suit made an allegation of forgery of results of the primary which was criminal and ought to be proved beyond reasonable doubt, adding that failure to discharge the burden of proof by producing the forged results or the original, “is fatal to the case of the applicant.”
Adeyemi then took his appeal again Ododo to the Supreme Court.
