The opposition party in Nigeria, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has raised the alarm in the central state of Kogi ahead of an impending Supreme Court ruling that may alter an initial Court of Appeal ruling and inadvertently affect the result of the state’s 2019 governorship elections.
Making a statement to members of the press, Comrade Austin Usman Okai, (speaking on behalf of the party’s Campaign Council in the state), alleged that judges were currently under pressure to do the biddings of the current state governor, Yahaya Bello, who presumably won a second term last year under the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party.
According to the group, Bello “dared party faithfuls in Kogi State with the impression that they have a bad case.” The party further urged the apex court to stand firm against the alleged manipulations of the local and national judiciary by the Kogi State governor.
New Judgement Date
Previously, the Supreme Court in Nigeria fixed August 31 for judgments on two appeals challenging Governor Yahaya Bello’s election. The court’s seven-man panel led by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, fixed the date for judgments after lawyers representing the appellants and the respondents in the two cases adopted their briefs of argument on Tuesday.
The two separate appeals to be attended to were filed by the PDP and the Social Democratic Party (SDP), along with their respective governorship candidates: Musa Wada and Natasha Akpoti, who were dissatisfied with the outcome of the November 16, 2019 poll.
A third appeal seeking the nullification of the elections on the grounds of unlawful exclusion was withdrawn at the last minute by the lawyer representing the Democratic People’s Party (DPP) in Nigeria.
The appeals specifically urged the apex court to upturn the judgments of the Kogi Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, who had in concurrent judgments, affirmed Mr. Bello’s re-election on the grounds that the appellants and their parties failed to prove the allegations of electoral malpractices in their petition.
This story is part of our series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
