The legal battle over the governorship primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State has shifted to the Abuja division of the Court of Appeal where the former lawmaker representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Smart Adeyemi, is seeking the nullification of the exercise.
His decision to go to the appellate court followed the judgment of an Abuja High Court which affirmed the disputed primary election that produced Ahmed Ododo as the candidate of the party for the governorship election fixed for November, 2023.
Justice James Omotosho, in a judgment he delivered on Wednesday, held that Adeyemi did not prove his allegation that Ododo was not lawfully nominated by the APC.
The plaintiff had in his suit marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/556/2023, sought the cancellation of the primary election on the premise that it was not validly conducted.
He prayed the court to declare as illegal, unlawful and invalid, the direct primary election said to have been conducted by the APC, through which Ododo emerged as a candidate for the governorship poll.
Adeyemi told the court that Ododo was handpicked as flagbearer of the party by the outgoing Governor of the State, Yahaya Bello, in gross violation of Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution, Sections 29 and 84 of the Electoral Act as well as Article 20 of the Constitution of the APC.
He, therefore, urged the court to declare the purported primary election as invalid and to issue an order, compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, not to recognise Ododo as the bonafide candidate of the party for the governorship election.
Besides, the aggrieved governorship aspirant, through his team of lawyers led by Dr Adekunle Ottitoju, prayed the court to order the APC to conduct a fresh primary election and to give all aspirants equal opportunity as prescribed by the Electoral Act, 2022.
However, in his judgment, Justice Omotosho held that the plaintiff did not by way of credible evidence, establish his allegation.
The court held that contrary to the position of the plaintiff, there was evidence that the primary election was validly held and monitored by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
It held that the allegations the plaintiff raised in the suit were criminal in nature and therefore ought to be proved beyond every reasonable doubt.
Justice Omotosho held that the plaintiff failed to discharge the burden of proof that was placed on him by the law.
“There is enough proof before this court to show that indeed a direct primary election of the APC held in Kogi State on April 14,” the court held, adding that Senator Adeyemi had after he lost in the election, lodged a complaint before an Appeals Committee that was constituted by the APC.
The court held that evidence before it showed that Adeyemi failed to appear before the Committee to prove his allegations.
The court said it found no reason to invalidate the outcome of the primary election.
Consequently, it dismissed the suit as lacking in merit.
However, reacting to the judgement, Senator Adeyemi, through his counsel, said he would take the case to the appellate court.
He insisted that the trial court failed to properly evaluate the proof of evidence that was placed before it by the parties, insisting that there were inconsistencies in the report that the INEC and affidavit tendered that the APC deposed.
Adeyemi alleged that whereas INEC claimed that option A4 mode was adopted for the primary election it monitored, the APC told the court that the election was through secret ballot.
The former lawmaker had in a 35-paragraph affidavit he filed in support of his originating summons, told the court that he obtained nomination and expression of interest forms from the party at the cost of N50 million, following which he was screened and cleared to participate in the primary election that was slated for April 14, 2023.
Adeyemi told the court that while he waited at his constituency to cast his vote along with his people, he was shocked when information came to him that the purported primary election had been conducted and a purported winner declared.
He alleged that Governor Bello had initially asked all other aspirants to step down for his preferred candidate, Ododo, who is from the same zone as him.
The plaintiff told the court that by political arrangement, it ought to be the turn of Kogi West, which had not produced a governor in the history of the state.
More so, Adeyemi, alleged that Governor Bello manipulated the whole process to ensure that his first cousin from the same polling unit, from the same ward, from the same local government and from the same tribe, Mr Ododo, emerged as the governorship candidate of the party, against the laid down rules and regulations.
He told the court that Governor Bello had among other things, presided over a panel where figures were allotted in favour of Ododo.
He further claimed that the governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle, who was supposed to preside over and announce the winner of the primary election, left Kogi state in annoyance so as to dissociate himself from the outcome of what they described as a shambolic primary election.
Adeyemi prayed the court to nullify the governorship primary election and order the APC to conduct a fresh one.