By Rufus Akinde
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, in a judgment, upheld the judgment of the state’s election tribunal and dismissed the appeal filed by Sen. 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 the Ohere.
The Kogi State National and State Assemblies Tribunal, had, on Sept 6, declared Akpoti-Uduagan the validly elected candidate for the poll.
The tribunal also invalidated the victory of Sen. Ohere.
The Tribunal Chairman, Justice K. A. Orjiako, delivered the unanimous judgment of the three-man panel, revealing that Sen. Ohere’s results were inflated in nine polling units in the 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.