APC Kogi Guber Primary: Adeyemi vows to appeal as Court dismisses disqualification suit against Ododo

A Federal High Court in Abuja has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Senator Smart Afolabi Adeyemi, a Kogi governorship candidate running on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform, challenging the selection of Usman Ododo as the party’s nominee during the party’s most recent primary election.
On Wednesday, the Court declared the case to be without merit and substance, making it inappropriate to fulfill petitions made against Ododo and the APC.
In his ruling in the case titled “FHC/CS/556/2023 in Smart Adeyemi v. APC & 2 Ors,” Justice James Kolawole Omotosho determined that Adeyemi’s assertions that the elections had not taken place and that the results had been fabricated were criminal in nature.
According to him, the applicant must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the charges of forgery and result falsification are true.
The court stated that Senator Adeyemi had the duty of proving either the original results or the falsified results, and that failure to do so “is fatal to the applicant’s case.”
In addition, Justice Omotosho ruled that the applicant’s claim that the election was invalid was unsupported because it was based solely on information from his Ward in the Ijumu LGA.
In any case, he claimed, the Respondents had refuted this evidence and had attached monitoring reports from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which was tasked with overseeing the election.
“In this case, INEC attached its monitoring report and also attached copies of the result, police report confirming the conduct of the election signed by the Commissioner of Police, the case of the Applicant has no basis,” he said.
Justice Omotosho, therefore, dismissed the case for lacking in merit.
Concluding, he said, “In the final analysis, having reviewed all the evidence in this matter, I have no doubt that the APC primary election result held in all the wards of Kogi State on the 14th day of April 2023 and I so hold.
“This Honourable Court will not allow the will of a few just like that of the Applicant to override the will of the majority. The Applicant’s case has no merit. It is hereby dismissed.”
Through his attorney, Senator Adeyemi responded to the verdict by announcing that he will be appealing.
Senator Adeyemi had asked the court to declare the supposed direct primary election, allegedly held by the APC, in which Ododo emerged as a candidate for the governorship election, as illegal, illegitimate, and void.
He testified before the court that Yahaya Bello, the departing governor of the state, personally chose Ododo to be the party’s flag bearer, in flagrant contravention of Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution, Sections 29 and 84 of the Electoral Act, and Article 20 of the APC Constitution.
In light of this, he requested that the court invalidate the primary election and issue a directive for the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to refuse to recognize Ododo as the legitimate candidate of the party for the governorship race.
Additionally, he is requesting that the Electoral Act of 2022 be followed and that the APC hold new primaries with equal opportunity for all candidates.
Adeyemi said that the APC informed the court that the election was conducted using a secret ballot, notwithstanding INEC’s assertion that option A4 mode was used for the primary election it oversaw.
The former lawmaker informed the court in a 35-paragraph affidavit he submitted in support of his initial summons that he paid the party $50 million for nomination and expression of interest forms before being screened and given the go-ahead to run in the primary election that was scheduled for April 14, 2023.