The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Tuesday, affirmed the election victory of Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the Kogi Central Senatorial election held in February.
The three-member panel upheld the judgement of the state’s election tribunal and dismissed the appeal filed by Senator Abubakar Ohere of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The court agreed with the submission of counsel for Akpoti-Uduagan, Mr Joshua Usman, SAN, for being meritorious.
The appellate court also awarded the sum of N500, 000 against Ohere.
The Kogi State National and State Assemblies Tribunal, had, on September 6, declared Akpoti-Uduaghan the validly elected candidate for the poll.
The tribunal also invalidated the victory of Ohere.
The Tribunal Chairman, Justice K. A. Orjiako, delivered the unanimous judgement of the three-man panel, revealing that Ohere’s results were inflated in nine polling units in Ajaokuta Local Government Area.
He added that the Independent National Electoral Commission reduced Natasha’s results in those areas and omitted the results of three other polling units meant for Natasha in the same LGA.
Following the necessary corrections, the court declared Natasha as the winner of the election with 54,074 votes, surpassing Ohere, who garnered 51,291 votes.
But unsatisfied, Ohere approached the Court of Appeal seeking to upturn the election.
