Smart Adeyemi’s appeal attempting to invalidate Ododo’s candidature in the Kogi APC governor’s primary, the appeals court has reserved judgement

The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election in Kogi State, which produced Ahmed Usman Ododo as the party’s nominee for the state’s November 11 governorship election, was challenged by Senator Smart Adeyemi. The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division on Wednesday reserved judgement in the case.

In a ruling issued on July 12, Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja concluded that Adeyemi had failed to establish his claim that Ododo had not been duly nominated by the APC.

Justice Omotosho ruled that Adeyemi’s claims of result forgery were criminal in character and required to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt in the lawsuit with the case number FHC/CS/556/2023.

He then completely rejected the lawsuit for being without merit and substance.

Adeyemi, however, moved the Appellate Court to have the judgement set aside because she was unhappy with the ruling, which upheld the outcome of the primary that produced Ododo as the party’s candidate.

He argued that the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) report and the affidavit the APC deposed to were inconsistent, and that the trial court had improperly evaluated the proof of evidence that the parties had presented to it.

While INEC asserted that option A4 mode was used for the primary election it oversaw, the APC, according to him, assured the court that the election was conducted using a secret ballot.

The three-member panel of justices, presided over by Justice Muhammed Lawal Shuaibu, identified and adopted the processes filed in relation to the subject when it was discussed on Wednesday. They then deferred judgement for a time that would be made known to the parties.

In his lawsuit, Adeyemi claimed that Ododo’s supposed selection as the APC governorship candidate was the consequence of a fraudulent primary election.