In a decisive ruling, the Court of Appeal in Abuja affirmed Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the legitimate winner of the Kogi Central Senatorial election held in February. The three-member panel, upholding the judgment of the state’s election tribunal, dismissed the appeal filed by Sen. Abubakar Ohere of the All Progressives Congress (APC). The court concurred with the arguments put forth by Akpoti-Uduagan’s counsel, Mr. Joshua Usman, SAN, deeming them meritorious.
Additionally, the appellate court imposed a fine of N500,000 against Ohere. This decision follows the earlier ruling by the Kogi State National and State Assemblies Tribunal on September 6, which declared Akpoti-Uduagan the duly elected candidate for the poll. The tribunal had nullified Sen. Ohere’s victory, citing inflated results in nine polling units in the Ajaokuta Local Government Area. The Independent National Electoral Commission corrected these discrepancies, ultimately declaring Natasha as the winner with 54,074 votes, surpassing Ohere’s 51,291 votes.
Despite this ruling, Sen. Ohere, dissatisfied with the outcome, sought to challenge the election results at the Court of Appeal.
