A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a suit instituted by a Kogi governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Senator Smart Afolabi Adeyemi, against the emergence of the candidate of the party, Usman Ododo, at the last primary election of the party.
The Court on Wednesday held that the suit lacked merit and substance to warrant granting requests made against Ododo and APC.
Delivering judgment in the suit marked “FHC/CS/556/2023 in Smart Adeyemi v. APC & 2 Ors”, Justice James Kolawole Omotosho held that Adeyemi’s allegations were criminal, as he alleged that elections did not hold and that the produced results were forged.
He said the applicant needed to prove the allegations of forgery and falsification of results beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court noted that the burden rests on Senator Adeyemi to produce the forged result or the original results to discharge the burden, adding that failure to discharge the burden “is fatal to the case of the applicant.”
Justice Omotosho also held that the allegation that the election did not hold was also not substantiated as the applicant only provided evidence from his Ward in Ijumu LGA.
He said, in any case, this evidence was denied by the Respondents, who attached the monitoring reports of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which has the duty to monitor the election.
“In this case, INEC attached its monitoring report and also attached copies of the result, police report confirming the conduct of the election signed by the Commissioner of Police, the case of the Applicant has no basis,” he said.
Justice Omotosho, therefore, dismissed the case for lacking in merit.
Concluding, he said, “In the final analysis, having reviewed all the evidence in this matter, I have no doubt that the APC primary election result held in all the wards of Kogi State on the 14th day of April 2023 and I so hold.
“This Honourable Court will not allow the will of a few just like that of the Applicant to override the will of the majority. The Applicant’s case has no merit. It is hereby dismissed.”
