The Court of Appeal, sitting in Abuja, has affirmed upheld the ruling of the election petition tribunal which removed Abubakar Ohere of APC, and declared Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan of the PDP as the legitimately elected Senator for the Kogi Central Senatorial District.
The Appeal Court gave the judgment on Tuesday while ruling on a case filed before it by Ohere.
The election petition tribunal, had on September 6, nullified Ohere’s victory and affirmed Natasha Hadiza as the duly elected Senator, citing inflated polling results in favor of Ohere in some units and deliberate undercounting against Akpoti-Uduaghan.
The tribunal highlighted discrepancies in voting figures and criticized INEC for not following electoral guidelines.
As a result, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan was declared the authentic winner and INEC was instructed to withdraw the certificate of return from Ohere and issue it to Akpoti-Uduaghan.
INEC was also ordered to pay N500,000 to Akpoti-Uduaghan.
In response, Ohere, APC, and INEC appealed the tribunal’s decision, aiming to overturn it.
In consolidated appeals, CA/ABJ/EP/SEN/KG/35/2023 & CA/ABJ/EP/SEN/KG/57/2023, the Court of Appeal upheld the tribunal’s decision and confirmed the PDP candidate as the duly elected Senator.
With this Appeal Court victory, Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, who hails from Obeiba-Ihima in Okehi LGA, thus become the first female Senator from Kogi State.
(vitalnewsngr.com)
