Tribunal: Wada to appeal judgement

The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in the November 16, 2019 election, Engr. Musa Wada said he will approach the Court of Appeal on the outcome of the judgement.

The tribunal ruled on Saturday affirming Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as duly elected.

In the 3-man judgement two were for and one against.

The November 16 results from the Independent National Electoral Commission, showed that Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 406,222 votes to defeat Mr Wada who polled 189,704 votes in the governorship election. Civil society organisations and independent observers reported how the election held in November 2019, was marred by irregularities.

However, Mr Wada, approached the tribunal to challenge the victory of Bello, urging it to uphold the petition and declare Wada as the duly elected governor of Kogi state.

Meanwhile, Justice Kashim Kaigama, who headed the three-man bench, and another member, Justice Baraka Wali, held that the petitioners failed to prove any of the grounds of their petition.

While Justice Ohimai Ovbiagele in his minority judgment supported Mr Wada by nullifying the results in seven out of the 21 local government areas in the state.

He also sacked Yahaya Bello as the winner of the disputed election and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to conduct a fresh election in seven local governments within three months.

Engr. Wada has vowed to appeal the Judgment of the election tribunal which dismissed his petition.

Mr Wada told Channels Television that “the dissenting judgment is a clear indication that the election of Mr Bello was flawed.”

He insisted that the majority Judgment of the tribunal is not a true representation of the events of November 2019.