The Supreme Court has rejected Achimugu's lawsuit against Ododo
The Supreme Court has scheduled October 23 for the verdict in Smart Adeyemi's case.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected Abubakar Achimugu's appeal to annul the All Progressives Congress' primary election in Kogi State, which led to the selection of Usman Ododo as the party's gubernatorial candidate for the upcoming November 11 state election.
The appeal was dropped by the Appellant and subsequently dismissed by a panel of Supreme Court justices, which included John Inyang Okoro, Hellen M. Ogunwunmiju, Adamu Jarrow, Emmanuel Agim, and Tijani Abubakar.
Achimugu initially filed a lawsuit in the trial court, seeking to disqualify Ododo from the governorship primary election on the grounds that he failed to resign from his position with the Kogi State Public Service 30 days before contesting.
However, the trial court ruled in favor of Ododo, stating that, contrary to Achimugu's allegations, the evidence indicated that Ododo had resigned from his position more than 30 days before participating in the APC primary election, leading to the dismissal of the suit.
Justice Egwuatu noted that the exhibits presented by the defendants demonstrated that Ododo's resignation letter was received by the Office of the Kogi State Governor on March 8, while that of the third defendant, Mr. Salami Deedat, was received on March 9.
Furthermore, the Appeal Court, in a unanimous decision, upheld the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja, finding that the appeal challenging the judgment lacked merit and consequently dismissing it.
During the Supreme Court's hearing of the appeal in the case of Achimugu v. APC & 3 Ors on Thursday, K. C. Udeh Oyibo, representing Achimugu, initially asserted that the respondents had not resigned from their appointments. However, he later acknowledged that they had indeed resigned.
The Supreme Court questioned the Appellant's Counsel regarding why the issues for determination in the Appellant's brief did not challenge the perceived perverseness of the decisions made by both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Due to this omission, the Appellant's Counsel was advised to withdraw the appeal.
Subsequently, Achimugu withdrew his appeal, resulting in the dismissal of the case.
Representing the parties were K.C. Ude-Oyibo Esq for the Appellant, Abdulwahab Mohammed, SAN, for the APC, S. A Abbass Esq for the 2nd and 3rd Respondents (Ododo and Deedat), and Chief A. A Adeniyi, SAN, for the 4th Respondent (INEC).
In a related development, the Supreme Court adjourned an appeal filed by Senator Smart Adeyemi against the judgments of the lower courts regarding the Kogi APC Governorship primary election to October 23, 2023, for judgment.
Adeyemi had initially filed a suit at the Federal High Court seeking to nullify the APC's primary election, which led to Usman Ododo becoming the party's gubernatorial candidate for the state's upcoming election on November 11. However, both the High Court and the Court of Appeal dismissed the case for lacking in merit.
During the hearing of his appeal at the Supreme Court, the court informed Adeyemi's lawyer, Musibau Adetumbi, SAN, that his client was appealing against concurrent findings of the High Court and the Court of Appeal, which affirmed the conduct of primary elections in Kogi State. However, he had failed to challenge these concurrent findings.
Despite this, the Appellant's counsel expressed the intention to proceed with the appeal.
As a result, the Supreme Court adjourned the appeal to October 23, 2023, for judgment.
The representation in this case included Chief Anthony Adeniyi, SAN, for the Independent National Electoral Commission, Abdulwahab Mohammed, SAN, for the All Progressives Congress, and M.Y. Abdullahi, SAN, for the APC Governorship Candidate, Usman Ododo.
The Court of Appeal had previously ruled on August 18, 2023, that the appeal argued by Adekunle Oladapo Otitoju on behalf of Senator Adeyemi lacked merit, as Adeyemi had failed to substantiate the serious criminal allegations made against the conduct of the primary election by the APC and its leaders.
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