Kogi West: Court of Appeal reserves ruling in Melaye’s suit

Dino Melaye, left, and Smart Adeyemi

The Abuja Division of Court of Appeal on Thursday reserved ruling in the appeal filed by former Senator Dino Melaye, challenging the decision of the Kogi State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal which affirmed the election of Smart Adeyemi of the All Progressive Congress, APC, as the winner of the Kogi West Senatorial District election.

Melaye who contested on the platform of PDP had asked the court to sack Adeyemi and declare him winner of the  senatorial election.

The Kogi State National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal, which sat in Abuja had on June 10, 2020, dismissed Melaye’s petition  for lacking in merit.

In its ruling, the tribunal said Melaye failed to prove the allegations of over voting, unlawful votes, and the various electoral malpractices he listed in the petition.

In the same vein, the court also reserved judgment in the appeal filed by Preye Brodrick and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, challenging the election of Charles Daniel of the APC.

The petitioners before the Tribunal challenged the return of Daniel at the election into the Brass Constituency 1 State Constituency of Bayelsa State House of Assembly held on March 9, 2019.

The appellate court said it will communicate the date for the delivery of the judgment to the parties.