Just in: Yahaya Bello floors Akpoti at Supreme Court

Governor Yahaya Bello: APC  governorship candidate

The Supreme Court on Monday  dismissed the petition of Natasha Akpoti and her party, the Social Democratic Party asking it to nullify the declaration of Yahaya Bello as the winner of November 16 governorship election.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Uwani Abba Aji on behalf of seven-man panel of Supreme Court led by the CJN, Tanko Mohammed, the apex court held that Akpoti and her party failed to call witnesses to prove that the election was marred by irregularities.

The Panel noted that the witness called by appellant to prove that the votes she scored were not recorded for her confessed that he was not present at the polling units.

The Panel also ruled that no witness was called to prove the allegations that Bello and his deputy, Edward Onoja were not qualified to contest election.

Also, the Panel said Natasha and SDP  failed to prove allegations of bribery and malpractices alleged and that she failed link Bello and his party, APC to the allegations.

In the same vein, the apex court said while it is true that the petitioners name and logo were committed from the result sheets, she did not claim that her name and logo were excluded from the ballot paper of the Kogi governorship election.

The apex court therefore said the appellant failed to prove exclusion and that the election was marred by malpractices in the unanimous judgement. The apex court upheld the ruling of the appellate court and the tribunal