On Monday, the Supreme Court denied the motion of Yakubu Ajaka, the Social Democratic Party’s governorship candidate in the recent Kogi State election.
The Supreme Court refused his application, advising the court to wait on the outcome of his request for a full panel to address an issue brought in his appeal.
In his verdict, Justice Mohammed Garba, who presided over a five-member panel, stated that the topic on which the appellants want a full panel was only a portion of the whole appeal.
Ajaka and his party have filed an appeal, SC/CV/654/2024, requesting that the Supreme Court overturn the lower courts’ decisions, including the judgment of the Court of Appeal and the Kogi State election petition tribunal, which upheld Ahmed Ododo’s victory in the state gubernatorial election.
At the resumed hearing of the appeal, Pius Akubo, the lawyer who appeared for Ajaka and the SDP, informed the court that his client had written to the Chief Justice of Nigeria requesting the formation of a full panel of the court to hear issues raised in Paragraphs 4.28 and 4.29 on page 16 of the appellants’ brief of argument.
Akubo stated that the appellants are requesting that the court depart from past decisions when deciding their appeal.
The respondents’ lawyers, Kanu Agabi for the Independent National Electoral Commission, Joseph Daudu for Ododo, and Emmanuel Ukala for the APC, all deemed the application unnecessary and urged the court, as it stands, to hear the appeal.
Garba went on to say that the issue was one of three cited in the appeal, and that the court, as it currently stands, may hear and decide the appeal.
He requested that Akubo proceed with the hearing of the appeal.
Akubo recognized his papers, adopted them, and requested the court to approve the appeal, overturn the Court of Appeal’s ruling, and declare Ajaka as Kogi State’s legitimately elected governor.
The respondents’ counsel, Agabi, Daudu, and Ukala, adopted their submissions and petitioned the court to reject the appeal and affirm the Court of Appeal’s verdict.
Justice Garba then deferred the verdict to a date that will be informed to all parties involved.
