Appeal Court upholds Senate committee chairman’s election in Kogi East

The Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Thursday affirmed the election of Senator Jibrin Isah of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi East.

Isah is the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Customs.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the APC candidate as the winner of the election in Kogi East Senatorial District ahead of his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) rival, Victor Adoji.

Adoji challenged the INEC declaration on the grounds that the elections were cancelled in some polling units where the Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) collected were more than the margin of win.

He urged the tribunal to nullify Isah’s victory and order a supplementary election in the affected 94 polling units in the district.

In its ruling, the tribunal led by Justice K.A. Orjiako ordered a rerun in 94 polling units where there were irregularities in the last election.

READ ALSO: Kogi East: The risk of choosing the ordinary

Dissatisfied with the judgment, Isah filed an appeal against the decision of the lower court.

The appeal court in its judgment on Thursday held that the witness on whom the tribunal based its judgment was incompetent.

The court subsequently expunged the exhibits presented by the witness from the records.

The appellate court held that the appeal succeeded and consequently set aside the tribunal’s judgement.

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