The Supreme Court, Monday, dismissed a suit filed by Senator Smart Afolabi Adeyemi challenging the outcome of the primary election conducted by the All Progressives Congress on April 14, 2023, which produced Ahmed Usman Ododo as its governorship flagbearer.
Adeyemi had dragged the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to the apex court after the Court of Appeal had affirmed the judgement of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja.
Adeyemi in the suit marked “FHC/CS/556/2023″, argued that the APC primary election results were forged in favour of Ododo and did not hold in all the wards in the state.
Adeyemi maintained that no primary election was conducted in Kogi state.
But INEC had countered Adeyemi’s submission while submitting police reports confirming they observed the polls in line with relevant electoral laws.
Adeyemi contested against Ododo for the APC governorship ticket but lost.
Justice James Omotosho of the High Court had dismissed the suit which the senator filed to challenge the primary election that produced Ododo, ahead of the state’s governorship election.
Both the trial court and the Court of Appeal affirmed that primary elections were held across the wards in Kogi state contrary to the submissions by Adeyemi’s legal team.
On Monday, Justice Emmanuel Agim of the Supreme Court said the complaint by Adeyemi seeks to reopen issues of facts that have been addressed by concurrent decisions of the lower court, and as such, the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to entertain his case.
Agim added that there are no grounds for the appeal filed by Adeyemi that alleges or suggests that the findings of the lower courts were perverse.
“This appeal fails and is dismissed. The appellant shall pay N 1 million to the first and third respondents,” Agim held saying Adeyemi’s case was “vexatious and frivolous”.
The judge lamented that after a politician loses an election case at the trial court or Court of Appeal, “you go to television telling the whole world how you are supposed to win.”
“The Supreme Court is a court of Justice, this is the level we have reduced our court to. This court is manned by reasonable people,” Agim said, adding it is not fair for politicians to comment on matters that are already in court.
