By Adeosun Christiana Pelumi (SIWES student D S Adegbenro ICT Polytechnic)
Court of Appeal in Abuja Upholds Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan’s Victory in Kogi Central Senatorial Election
In a recent verdict, the Abuja Court of Appeal has affirmed Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan’s election win in the Kogi Central Senatorial election conducted in February.
The three-member panel upheld the judgment of the state’s election tribunal, dismissing Sen. Abubakar Ohere’s appeal from the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Akpoti-Uduagan’s legal counsel, Mr. Joshua Usman, SAN, presented compelling arguments that the court found to be meritorious. Furthermore, the appellate court imposed a fine of N500,000 against Sen. Ohere.
This ruling follows the earlier decision by the Kogi State National and State Assemblies Tribunal on September 6, which declared Akpoti-Uduagan as the validly elected candidate and invalidated Sen. Ohere’s victory.
The tribunal discovered that Sen. Ohere’s results were inflated in nine polling units in the Ajaokuta Local Government Area, while Natasha’s results were unfairly reduced in those areas.
Results from three other polling units intended for Natasha were also omitted.
With these corrections, the court declared Natasha as the winner with 54,074 votes, surpassing Ohere’s 51,291 votes. Sen. Ohere had attempted to challenge the election results through his appeal to the Court of Appeal.
