The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed the election of the Imo State Governor, Hope Uzodimma, his counterparts in Bayelsa, Duoye Diri and Kogi, Usman Ododo.
In 2023, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the trio the winners of the off-cycle governorship poll which held on November 11th, 2023 in their respective states.
For Uzodimma, INEC said he polled 540,308 votes to beat Samuel Anyanwu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who scored 71,503 votes; and Athan Achonu of the Labour Party (LP) who secured 64,081 votes.
Not satisfied with the tribunal’s verdict that ruled in Uzodimma’s favour, they approached the appeal court for redress.
Despite losing at the appellate court, they sought refuge in the Supreme Court to overturn the lower court’s verdict.
Hearing the case in Abuja, the apex court dismissed the two appeals filed by the Labour Party (LP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and their governorship candidate challenging Uzodimma’s victory at the polls.
There was a fierce legal tussle in Kogi State since the then APC candidate, Usman Ododo emerged as the winner of the election.
The electoral body had announced that Ododo polled a total of 446,237 votes to defeat Ajaka who came second with 259,052 votes.
Murtala Ajaka, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, challenged the outcome of the election.
In a unanimous judgment on Friday, the apex court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal which on May 27 affirmed Ododo’s election.
In Bayelsa, the situation was similar as the apex court affirmed Senator Duoye Diri’s re-election, thus dismissing the appeal of the APC governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva.
