A petition filed by Senator Smart Afolabi Adeyemi, a Kogi governorship aspirant on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), against the emergence of the party’s candidate, Usman Ododo, at the party’s recent primary election, has been dismissed by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
On Wednesday, the Court ruled that the complaint lacked merit and substance to support granting the requests made against Ododo and the APC.
Justice James Kolawole Omotosho ruled in the case marked “FHC/CS/556/2023 in Smart Adeyemi v. APC & 2 Ors” that Adeyemi’s claims were criminal, as he claimed that elections did not take place and that the results that were issued were faked.
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He stated that the applicant must prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges of forgery and falsification of results.
The court stated that Senator Adeyemi bears the burden of producing the falsified or genuine results in order to fulfil the burden, and that failure to discharge the burden “is fatal to the applicant’s case.”
Justice Omotosho further ruled that the applicant’s claim that the election did not take place was unsubstantiated because he only submitted proof from his Ward in Ijumu LGA.
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In any case, he said, the Respondents refuted this evidence, attaching monitoring reports from 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 Applicant’s case has no basis,” he said.
As a result, Justice Omotosho dismissed the case for lack of merit.
“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,” he concluded.
“This Honourable Court will not allow the will of a few, such as the Applicant’s, to trump the will of the majority.” The Applicant’s case is without merit. It is thus discarded.
