Kogi Guber: Appeal Court Dismisses Sen. Smart Adeyemi, Achimugu’s Appeals

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed appeals filed by a former Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District at the National Assembly, Smart Adeyemi and that of a Governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi state, Mr Abubakar Achimugu.

The two are seeking the nullification of the governorship primary election of the party which produced Ahmed Usman Ododo as the party’s flag bearer for the governorship election slated for November 11 in the state.

In a unanimous judgement on Friday, the court held that the two appeals challenging the judgement of the Federal High Court Abuja lacked merit and accordingly dismissed them.

Justice Muhammed Shuaibu, leading a three-member panel of Justices of the court who delivered the judgement in Sen. Adeyemi’s appeal, held that the former lawmaker failed to prove the criminal allegations in his case.

The court held that the burden of proof lies on the plaintiff who alleges irregularities in the conduct of the primary election of the APC for the nomination of its governorship candidate in the forthcoming governorship election in Kogi state.

The Appellate court said, “The evidence placed before the trial court by the respondents was not controverted by the appellant in this circumstance, issue one is hereby resolved against the appellant.

“On the whole, the appeal is un-meritorious and it is hereby dismissed. The judgement of the lower court is hereby affirmed. Parties are to bear their respective cost” Justice Shuaibu held.

Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court in Abuja had, in a judgement delivered on July 12, held that Adeyemi did not prove his allegation that Ododo was not lawfully nominated by the APC.

Adeyemi had alleged in his suit that the primary election that purportedly produced Ododo as the APC governorship candidate did not hold and that the results were forged.

Appeal dismissal 

In the same vein, the Court of Appeal dismissed Achimugu’s appeal against a judgement of a Federal High Court Abuja which affirmed Ahmed Usman Ododo as the APC flagbearer for the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Kogi state.

The appeal was against the judgement of Justice Obiora Egwuatu delivered on 18th July which held that Ododo can lawfully continue to fly the flag of the APC in the November 11, 2023 governorship election in Kogi State.

The appellate court in a unanimous judgement, held that Achimugu’s appeal is bereft of merit and affirmed the judgement of the trial court.

The court consequently dismissed the appeal for lacking merit.

Achimugu had also, approached the trial court with a suit seeking to disqualify Ododo from contesting the November 11 governorship election on grounds that he did not resign his employment with the Kogi State public service 30 days before contesting the governorship primary election.

But, the trial court, in its judgment, held that contrary to the claim of Achimugu, evidence showed that Ododo resigned his appointment more than 30 days before participating in the APC primary.

Emmanuel Ukoh