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Kogi Election: Appeal Court reserves judgment in SDP, Ajaka’s appeal against Ododo
The Court of Appeal sitting on Abuja has reserved judgment in the appeal filed by the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, (SDP), in the November 11, 2023 Kogi State governorship election, Murtala Ajaka, challenging the judgement of the State Election Petition Tribunal which affirmed Ahmed Ododo of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the elected governor of the state.
A three-member of Justices of the appellate court reserved judgment on Thursday to a date that would be communicated to parties after the adoption of all their briefs they filed in the matter.
While adopting the processes filed on behalf of the appellants, Pius Akubo, SAN, urged the court to set aside the judgement of the Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and declare Ajaka as the governor of Kogi State.
According to Akubo, the judgement of the Tribunal which affirmed Ododo’s election was a serious miscarriage of justice.
He said the expunge of the evidence of the first petitioners’ witness (PW1) by the Tribunal was a miscarriage of justice.
According to him, the appellants have demonstrated that election in three local government areas of Kogi state was contaminated by over voting.
He argued that Ajaka would have won if the election was properly conducted in accordance with the Electoral Act.
“Having regards to Section 134(1)(3) of the Electoral Act, the 2nd respondent was not qualified to contest in the election, having submitted forged documents to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC),” he stated.
Akubo urged the court to hold that the the issue of qualification of the 2nd respondent is not a pre-election matter and pleaded with the court to set aside the decision of the Tribunal and declare Ajaka winner of the November 11, 2023 Kogi state governorship election.
In his own submission, Kanu Agabi, SAN, while adopting the briefs filed on behalf of the Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC), prayed the court to dismiss the appeal filed by Ajaka and his party for lacking in merit.
He said there were inconsistencies in the case of the appellants and further argued that the Appeal Court had decided that if the grounds of a petition are inconsistent with one another, and are not consistent with the reliefs, it should be struck out.
Agabi also argued that the evidence of the petitioners were grossly insufficient and submitted that, once the evidence called is grossly insufficient, there is no evidence.
He said the petitioners only called 25 witnesses out of the scores listed and further argued that, out of the 25 witnesses called by the petitioners, there was no single polling unit agent among them.
Agabi also argued that the PW1 did not file any witness deposition before hand as required by law and as such cannot give evidence in an election petition.
Joseph Daudu, SAN, in his own submission on Ododo’s behalf, said no single evidence of PW1 was admitted as evidence by the Tribunal on the ground that he failed to front load his witness statement before hand.
Daudu said the Tribunal was right to have expunged the evidence of PW1, having declared it inadmissible and added that the appellants failed to prove the allegation of over voting in their petition.
He also urged the court to dismiss the allegations of forgery against his client, saying it bordered on pre-election matter, which the apex court had decided in Gbagi’s case against INEC.
Daudu, who said the appellants failed to prove allegation of over-voting, also argued that Section 137 of the Electoral Act cited by the petitioners on allegations of over-voting did not apply in the petition.
He urged the court to dismiss the appeal and affirm the judgement of the Tribunal which upheld the election of Ododo.
Corroborating Daudu’s argument, Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, who appeared for APC, prayed the Appeal Court to dismiss the petition for being incompetent.
Ajaka and his party, in the appeal, hinged on 31 grounds, insist that they are the winners of the November 11, 2023 governorship election and should be declared the rightful winner.
The appellants who are dissatisfied with the decision of the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal headed by Justice Ado Yusuf Birnin Kudu, are praying the court for an order setting aside the judgement of the Tribunal, an order restoring the testimony of their first witness (PW1) as well as all the documents they tendered that were expunged from the records of the Tribunal.
The appellants also want that Appeal Court to hold that Ododo was not even qualified to have contested the election into the office of Governor of Kogi State and that all votes ascribed and or allocated to him and the APC are wasted votes.
It would be recalled that the tribunal had, on May 27, affirmed the victory of Ododo of the APC in the November 11, 2023 Kogi governorship poll.
The three-member panel of justices, held that the petition was bereft of substance and accordingly dismissed it.
The tribunal held that SDP and Ajaka failed to prove the allegations of over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 in the petition.
The panel, in a unanimous, decision held that all the witness evidence filed before it were incompetent and full of inconsistencies.
It also agreed with the submissions of the respondents that the allegations of forgery raised in the petition were pre-election matter, which ought to have been raised 14 days after the documents were submitted to INEC.
Kogi had, on November 11, 2023, held its off-cycle election in which Ododo of the APC was declared winner by INEC.
The Imo state police command says members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) were among those abducted along the Owerri-Onitsha expressway on Thursday morning.
Okoye Henry, police spokesperson in Imo, said in a statement that 10 of the victims had been rescued.
He said the exact number of persons abducted was still being verified and would be made public once confirmed.
Reports said that there was tension on the road in the early hours of Thursday after gunmen attacked two 18-seater buses carrying passengers and took them into the bush.
According to a viral video circulated on X, the victims were travelling to Akwa Ibom and Abia states in buses branded with the Abia state government logo when the attackers intercepted the vehicles and robbed the passengers.
Okoye said the incident occurred around 6:30am, adding that NYSC members were among those abducted.
“The incident occurred at about 0630hrs on 1st October, 2026, along the Owerri-Onitsha Road, by Umunoha. Two buses conveying NYSC corps members and other passengers from Ibadan to Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, and Bende, Abia State, respectively, were attacked by suspected armed men,” the statement reads.
“Following a swift response by the Police and other security agencies, both buses have been recovered and 10 victims were rescued at the scene.
“The rescued victims are in safe hands and are being attended to. The exact number of persons abducted is being verified and will be made public once confirmed.”
The police spokesperson said operatives were still conducting coordinated search and rescue operations, backed by intelligence to track the suspects and rescue the remaining victims.
He said the commissioner of police in Imo, alongside other service commanders, have visited the scene for an on-the-spot assessment and to give operational direction.
“He assured the public that the Command will sustain the operation until all victims are safely recovered and the suspects are brought to justice,” Okoye said.
He said the command was working with the NYSC directorate to reach the families of the affected corps members, who would be kept informed as the situation developed.
He added that the affected section of the expressway had been reopened and traffic was flowing, while security personnel remained deployed to protect commuters.
The command appealed for calm and urged the public to remain vigilant, adding that anyone with credible information should report to the nearest police station or contact the command’s emergency lines.
“All information will be treated in confidence,” Okoye added.
An unspecified number of travellers, including National Youth Service Corps members, have reportedly been abducted by armed men along the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway in Imo State on Thursday, October 1.
The incident reportedly occurred around 5:30am when at least two commercial buses were attacked, with passengers allegedly robbed and taken into the bush. The exact number of people affected remains unclear.
According to reports and videos circulating online, some of the passengers were corps members who had departed from Samonda, Ibadan, in buses operated by Uko Akwa Ibom Motors.
The corps members were reportedly travelling to their assigned orientation camps in states across the South-East and South-South, including Akwa Ibom, Enugu, Imo and Abia.
An eyewitness, in a video shared online, said the attackers intercepted buses travelling from Lagos towards Anambra State and took passengers into the bush after dispossessing them of their belongings.
“Good morning, my fellow Nigerians. I am reporting from the Owerri-Onitsha Road. This happened this morning,” the eyewitness said.
He added that security personnel had arrived at the scene, while soldiers reportedly entered the bush in an attempt to locate and rescue the victims.
“The police came this morning, and the army has already entered the bush to see if they can rescue the victims,” he said.
Footage from the scene showed two buses abandoned by the roadside, with one bearing the inscription “Uko Akwa Ibom Motors Nig. Ltd” and the number Uko/133.
The reported attack has heightened concerns among families whose relatives were travelling to NYSC orientation camps in different parts of the South-East and South-South.
In a separate video shared by Agidigbo FM Ibadan, a distressed woman appealed for assistance, saying her daughter was among the corps members whose whereabouts had become unknown.
According to the woman, her daughter left the Samonda park in Ibadan on Wednesday alongside other corps members travelling to the eastern part of the country.
She said the family received a message from her daughter in their WhatsApp group shortly after 6am on Thursday. The message reportedly contained the word “kidnapper”, after which her daughter’s phone became unreachable.
Describing the family’s distress, the woman said: “Since past 6am, I have not been able to hear from my child, and we couldn’t get her exact location anymore. Please, federal government, help us. I only have the two of them.”
She identified the missing corps member as Kehinde and said her twin sister, Taiwo, had already arrived in Enugu for her orientation camp.
Other relatives reportedly visited the park where their loved ones had boarded buses in Ibadan as they sought information about the missing travellers.
However, the identities and number of people allegedly abducted, as well as their current whereabouts, remained unclear at the time of reporting.
The Imo State Police Command had yet to issue an official statement confirming the incident. Its spokesperson, Henry Okoye, had also not responded to requests for comment at the time of the reports.
In commemoration of Nigeria’s 66th independence anniversary, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State has approved the pardon, release, and commutation of sentences of 13 inmates of the Nigerian Correctional Centres, Enugu State.
This is in the exercise of his power of Prerogative of Mercy under Section 212 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) and in consultation with the Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, Enugu State.
According to a statement released by the Mbah’s media aide, Uche Anichukwu, on Independence Day, the Governor’s approval was conveyed to the Comptroller, Nigerian Correctional Service, Enugu State Command by the Chief of Staff to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice, Barr. Osinachi Nnajieze.
The beneficiary inmates are Kenneth Ozioko, Moses Saliyat, Promise Ndudim Olung, Chijioke Ugwu, Samuel Ani, and Eugene Odo.
Others are Celsus Emeachi, Caleb Jatto, Calistus Eze, Gabriel Onu, Timothy Ani, Ernest Okeke, and Ejike Nwodo.
While some of the inmates were pardoned and released, some had their death sentence commuted to life imprisonment.
Mbah’s decision was predicated on reports of ill health and or proven reform in character, and following recommendation by the Correctional Services to the Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, chaired by the State Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice.
Membership of the Council equally comprises representatives of the Nigerian Correctional Service, Carmelite Prisoners Interest Organisation (CAPIO), and the Catholic Institute for Development, Justice and Peace (CIDJAP), among other reputable bodies in the justice sector.
Section 212 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) provides that: “The Governor may (a) Grant any person concerned with or convicted of any offence created by any law of a state a pardon, either free or subject to lawful conditions; (b) grant to any person a respite, of the execution of any punishment imposed on that person for such an offence; (c) substitute a less severe form of punishment for any person for such an offence; or (d) remit the whole or any part of punishment for any punishment imposed on that person for such any offence or of any penalty forfeiture otherwise due to the state on account of such an offence.”
Section 212 (2), however, provides that the powers of the governor under subsection (1) shall be exercised after consultation with an advisory council of the state on the prerogative of mercy as may be established by law of the state.
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