Court of Appeal in Abuja has affirmed the election of Governor Yahaya Bello as Kogi State, after dismissing four appeals challenging his victory at the November 16, 2019 poll.
A five-man panel of justices of the court upheld Governor Bello’s election in a judgemnt delivered on Saturday in the nation’s capital.
Those who filed the appeals were the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Action Peoples Party (APP), and the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP).
Bello, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), was reelected as governor of the state on November 16, 2019.
He polled 406,222 votes to defeat Musa Wada of the PDP who polled 189,704, and Natasha Akpoti of the SDP, who got 9,482.
The governor won in 12 out of the 21 local government areas of the state, according to results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The governorship election petition tribunal had earlier dismissed a suit filed by the SDP and Akpoti.
Akpoti and her party had instituted the suit challenging Bello’s victory on the grounds that irregularities marred the election.
However, the tribunal held that the petitioners failed to prove the allegations of over-voting, massive thumb printing, voter intimidation and other electoral malpractices.
