Appeal court affirms election of Yahaya Bello as Kogi governor

By our reporter| The election of Yahaya Bello as the governor of Kogi State was on Saturday affirmed by the court of appeal Abuja.

A five-man panel of justices of the court while upholding Governor Bello’s election, dismissed the appeals filed by four political parties challenging his re-election in the November 2019 governorship poll.

Those who filed the appeals were the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Action Peoples Party (APP), and the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP).

On the APP’s appeal, Justice Mohammed Shuaibu dismissed the appeal filed by the party in a unanimous judgment.

He also affirmed the decision of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which dismissed the petition filed by the APP and awarded a cost of N100,000 against the party.

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In its appeal, APP had claimed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) unlawfully excluded it from the governorship election in Kogi State.

The appellate court also dismissed the appeal filed by the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) against Governor Bello’s victory in the election.

DPP’s appeal was also dismissed in a unanimous decision while the SDP candidate, Natasha Akpoti, lost her bid to unseat Governor Bello.

In its judgement, the court held that Akpoti could not prove the allegations of corruption and voter intimidation against the governor.

The Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Musa Wada and the PDP got their appeal dismissed by the court, with a penalty.

Wada was ordered to pay a sum of N100,000 each to Governor Bello, the All Progressives Congress (APC), and INEC, who were listed as respondents in the appeal.

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