Following months of back and forth and a highly publicised court case in Nigeria, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the 2019 governorship election in Kogi State, Musa Wada, has finally conceded defeat to his main rival, the state Governor Yahaya Bello following a recent decision by the Supreme Court.
Wada, who released a statement on Wednesday, congratulated Bello on his recent victory, urging the incumbent governor to immediately address the suffering of the ordinary man in the street, pointing out that other more focused states were rising to the challenges of development currently eluding the Kogi State.
“Nevertheless, the Supreme Court has spoken, and as a democrat, I heartily congratulate Governor Yahaya Bello, and also to remind him at this crucial point in the state history that this has all been about Kogi people, and I shall continue in my quest to ensure a better life for the people of the state. God bless Kogi State and God bless Nigeria,” the statement read.
While the PDP candidate noted that the Supreme Court verdict had failed to take into account the violence and disenfranchisement of citizens of the state, whose mandate had been silenced due to their decision to throw out his appeal, he however explained that accepted the verdict as there would always be an end to litigation.
INEC had last year declared Bello, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the winner of the poll, having won the majority of votes cast in the election. However, the four contestants and their parties disagreed with INEC and subsequently approached the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal to challenge the victory of Bello. But their petitions were all dismissed by the tribunal for lacking in merit.
The Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, had, in July, affirmed the election of Bello as governor of Kogi State after it dismissed appeals filed by PDP, four other parties, and their respective governorship candidates for lacking in merit.
This ruling by the Supreme Court marks the most recent ruling in favor of the controversial incumbent governor.
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.
