Supreme Court rules against Adeyemi’s appeal on Kogi APC primary

The Supreme Court has rejected former Senator Smart Adeyemi’s appeal challenging the outcome of the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary in Kogi State.

In a unanimous decision delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim on Monday, the apex court determined that the appeal lacked merit, stating, “On the whole, this appeal fails for lack of merit.”

Senator Adeyemi had contested the validity of the primary election that declared Ahmed Usman Ododo as the APC’s gubernatorial candidate for the November 11th election.

The panel asserted that Adeyemi failed to demonstrate that the court’s judgment, based on consistent factual findings from both the high court and the Court of Appeal, was flawed.

The panel ordered the payment of one million Naira each to the APC and Ododo.

Adeyemi had filed a suit (FHC/ABJ/CS/556/2023) with the Federal High Court, seeking to declare the APC’s primary that nominated Usman Ododo as the gubernatorial candidate illegal and invalid for the November election.

He argued that the primary did not conform to the legal requirements. However, on July 12, Justice James Omotosho dismissed this suit. Justice Omotosho highlighted that the suit alleged the forgery of primary election results, a criminal matter that needed to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

He added that the failure to meet the burden of proof by providing either the forged results or the original documents was detrimental to the applicant’s case.

The Court of Appeal concurred with this verdict and also rejected the appeal.