The Supreme Court, on Thursday, dismissed the appeal by a governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kogi State, Abubakar Achimugu, hoping to have the primary election that selected Usman Ododo as the party’s nominee for the November 11 election annulled.
A group of Supreme Court justices, including John Inyang Okoro, Hellen M. Ogunwunmiju, Adamu Jarrow, Emmanuel Agim, and Tijani Abubakar, dismissed the appeal after it was withdrawn by the appellant.
Achimugu had filed a lawsuit in the trial court asking for Ododo to be disqualified on the grounds that he had not given notice of his resignation from the Kogi State public service 30 days prior to running for governor.
Contrary to Achimugu’s assertion, the evidence established that Ododo resigned his position more than 30 days before voting in the APC primary election, and as a result, the trial court dismissed the lawsuit.
The third defendant, Mr. Salami Deedat, received his resignation letter on March 9, according to exhibits submitted by the defendants, while Ododo’s resignation letter was received by the Office of the Kogi State Governor on March 8.
The Federal High Court’s decision in Abuja was being appealed, but the Appeal Court determined unanimously that the appeal lacked merit and dismissed it as a result.
At the Supreme Court’s hearing of the appeal in the case Achimugu v. APC & 3 Ors, on Thursday, K. C. Udeh Oyibo, Achimugu’s lawyer, said that the respondents did not resign their appointments but later agreed that they resigned.
The Federal High Court’s and the Court of Appeal’s decisions were both deemed to be perverse, but the appellant’s counsel failed to raise any objections to this in his issues for resolution in the appellant’s brief, according to the Supreme Court.
It was suggested to the appellant’s attorney to withdraw the appeal in light of this oversight.
The case was ultimately dismissed after Achimugu withdrew his appeal.
K. C. The appellant was represented by Ude-Oyibo Esq, the APC by Abdulwahab Mohammed, SAN, and the second and third respondents, Ododo and Deedat, by S. A Abbass Esq.
Captain A. A. Adeniyi, SAN, represented INEC, the fourth respondent.
In a related development, the Supreme Court on Thursday postponed a decision on an appeal brought by Senator Smart Adeyemi concerning the Kogi APC governorship primary election until October 23, 2023.
