Six months after the elections in Kogi West Senatorial District of Kogi State in Nigeria, the legal war between All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Smart Adeyemi, and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dino Melaye, continues. The two candidates are from the two biggest political parties in the country.

On Thursday the 23rd of April, the PDP contender, Dino Melaye, closed his case following a widely publicised debacle surrounding his last two witnesses. 

While challenging the outcome of the elections held on November 16, 2019, and won by the APC’s Smart Adeyemi, Melaye and the PDP announced the closure of their case at the conclusion of the testimony of one of their witnesses, Pastor Femi Obalemo.

Problematic Witness Statements

Earlier in the week, the Kogi state National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal rejected a key witness presented by Melaye, in support of his petition contesting the election results. Led by Justice Isa Sambo, the tribunal disqualified the witness, Mark Samuel, on the grounds that his statement was not presented by law. Adeyemi’s lawyer, Oladapo Otitoju, had brought the court’s attention to the fact that the witness’s statement was not properly presented. Otitoju pointed that not only had the witness who claimed to be lawyer failed to attach his seal to the statement, but the statement was void as it was filed on February 26, 2020, 21 days after the period allowed under Section 285 (5) of the constitution in Nigeria. 

In the ruling on Tuesday, Justice Sambo agreed with Otitoju and proceeded to disqualify Samuel as a witness in the case.

Issues arose when the second witness, Pastor Femi Obalemo, mistakenly admitted to the tribunal that he had visited 50 polling units during the election, a gross violation of the electoral law in Nigeria which does not permit candidates and their agents to move around from one polling unit to the other during an election. 

Noting that he was part of those ordered by the tribunal to inspect the materials used for the election by INEC, Obalemo, however, claimed to have been unavailable to sign necessary documents as he was out of the country. On whether he was aware that election could be declared inconclusive where there is no result, Obalemo said: ‘’I don’t have enough information to agree or disagree.’’

The tribunal in Nigeria has adjourned the case to April 28, 2019, with INEC expected to open its case. 

This story is part of our new series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.