Two All Progressives Congress (APC) members who felt wronged have asked an Abuja High Court to nullify and annul the April 11 Kogi governorship primary election.
Realwan Akpanachi and Yahaya Seidu-Nuhu sued the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the seventh and eighth defendants, respectively, for what they claimed was a violation of the Electoral Act 2022 and the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s constitution in an originating summons submitted by their attorney, Mr. Promise Ogbodu.
The six candidates are Ahmed Usman-Ododo (Auditor-General for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs), Asiwaju Idris (Finance Commissioner), Jibril Momoh (Account-General), Yakubu Okala (Auditor-General), and Salami Ozigi (Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs).
They asked the court explicitly to exclude the first through sixth defendants.
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They stated that they were still political appointees and government employees when the six defendants ran in the April 11 governorship primary election.
They asked the court to decide if the first through sixth defendants, who are “political appointees/public officers currently in the service of the Kogi Government,” are able to legitimately participate in the APC convention or congress in order to compete for the nomination as the governorship candidate for the governorship election on November 11th.
“A declaration that the 7th Respondent cannot validly nominate any of the 1st to 6th Respondents as her Candidate for the Kogi State Governorship Election in the face of their failure as political appointees/public servants, to resign from service of the Kogi Government at the time of the primary election.
“An Order disqualifying any of the 1st to 6th Respondents from seeking for the nomination of, and being nominated by the 7th Respondent as its Governorship Candidate for the Kogi Governorship Election, scheduled for November 11, ” they further prayed.
However, the court is alleged to have ordered that an urgent notice of hearing be served on each respondent, calling them to appear before it on April 27 for the hearing of the plaintiff’s originating summons.
Usman-Ododo won the Kogi APC governorship primary poll, according to NAN, when the other five respondents—including the deputy governor, Chief Edward Onoja, and one other—resigned in his place.
Usman-Ododo won the Kogi APC Primary Election with 78,704 votes, according to Mr. Patrick Obahiagha, Secretary of the seven-member committee.
Momodu received 1,506 votes, Yahaya-Ashemogu received 1,159, and Abubakar-Audu received 763, according to Obahiagha, who made the governorship primary results announcement on Saturday morning in Lokoja.
Sanusi Ohiere received 424 votes, Smart Adeyemi 311 votes, and Stephen Ocheni 552 votes, he continued.
Out of the 93 729 voters, 83 419 were accredited and cast ballots for the candidates of their choice, according to Obahiagha.
