The Supreme Court has denied Ajaka’s request for a full panel review in the Kogi gubernatorial dispute. Discover the implications of this decision.
Yakubu Muritala Ajaka, the candidate for the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kogi State’s recent gubernatorial election, applied to have a full panel consider an issue raised during his appeal. However, the Supreme Court denied this request and proceeded with their decision.
In an effort to dispute the affirmation of Ahmed Usman Ododo’s triumph in the November 11, 2023 election by both the court of appeal and electoral tribunal, Ajaka and his associates have submitted a plea designated as SC/CV/654/2024 to implore the intervention of Supreme Court.
When informed about the appeal on Monday, Pius Akubo – representing Ododo and SDP – notified the court that his client had written to CJN asking for a complete panel of justices to address concerns mentioned in Paragraphs 4.28 and 4.29 on Page 16 of appellant’s argument brief.
In those paragraphs, Akubo contended that the appellants were seeking a deviation from the court’s past rulings in their appeal.
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The respondents’ legal representatives – Kanu Agabi (SAN) representing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joseph Daudu (SAN) representing Ododo, and Emmanuel Ukala (SAN) representing the APC – argued that filing an application was needless. They encouraged the court to proceed with hearing the appeal in its current form.
Justice Mohammed Lawal Garba, who chaired the five-member panel in question, declared that the appellants’ request for a full panel was only concerned with a small section of their appeal. He also stated that this issue constituted one out of three raised by them. Justice Garba concluded that there were enough judges on present to hear and resolve the matter before it and ordered Akubo to proceed with conducting the hearing.
Akubo identified his briefs and advocated for the appeal to be permitted while also requesting a revocation of the Court of Appeal’s verdict in order for Ajaka to be officially recognized as Kogi State’s elected governor.
Agabi, Daudu, and Ukala presented their arguments and requested that the court reject the appeal while upholding the ruling made by the Court of Appeal.
The judgment was later adjourned by Justice Garba, with the date of communication still pending.
