The Supreme Court sitting in Abuja, on Thursday, dismissed the appeal by a governorship aspirant of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in Kogi State, Abubakar Achimugu, seeking to nullify the primary election of the party which produced Usman Ododo as its governorship candidate for the November 11, 2023 governorship election.
Achimugu’s appeal was dismissed by a panel of Supreme Court justices led by Justice Inyang Okoro.
News About Nigeria gathered that he had approached the Federal High Court with a suit seeking to disqualify Ododo on the ground that he did not resign his employment with the Kogi State public service 30 days before contesting the governorship primary election.
However, the court, in its judgment, held that contrary to Achimugu’s claim, evidence showed that Ododo resigned his appointment more than 30 days before participating in the APC primary election and therefore dismissed the suit.
The court also revealed that exhibits tendered by the defendants showed that while Ododo’s resignation letter was received by the Office of the Kogi State Governor on March 8, that of the 3rd defendant, Mr Salami Deedat was received on March 9.
The Appeal Court in their ruling held that the appeal challenging the judgment of the Federal High Court in Abuja lacked merit and dismissed it accordingly.
At the Supreme Court’s hearing of the appeal, Achimugu’s lawyer who said that the respondents did not resign their appointments finally agreed that they resigned.
The Supreme Court, therefore, queried the appellant’s counsel on why his issues for determination in the appellant’s brief did not have any challenge as to why the decision of both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal was perverse.
The Apex court, therefore, charged the appellant’s counsel to withdraw the appeal.
Following the court’s counsel, Achimugu withdrew his appeal and the case was dismissed.
