Appeal Court gives judgement in Kogi East election petition

……The Court of Appeal on Thursday upheld the election of Sen. Jibrin Isah of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as senator representing Kogi East.

Isah, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs, was declared the winner of the Kogi East Senatorial District by INEC after emerging victory in the February 25 election.

Meanwhile, his closest rival, Victor Adoji of the Peoples Democratic Party who came second in the election, had challenged the return of Isah.

This, he said, was on grounds that the elections were cancelled in some polling units where the PVCs collected were more than the margin of the win while pleading with the tribunal to…..nullify the victory of Isah and order a supplementary election in the affected 94 polling units in the senatorial district.

In a unanimous Judgment, the tribunal led by Justice K.A. Orjiako ordered a rerun in 94 polling units where there were irregularities in the last general election.

Not pleased with the judgment, Isah filed an appeal against the decision of the lower court.

……However, the appeal court in its judgment on Thursday held that the witness on which the tribunal relied its judgment was incompetent, it subsequently expunged the exhibits presented by the witness from the records.

The appellate court held that the appeal succeeded and the judgment of the tribunal is hereby set aside and the appellant’s victory sustained and affirmed.(NAN)