The Kogi State Governor, Usman Ododo, along with his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), are scheduled to commence their defence on April 15 at the state’s governorship election tribunal sitting in Abuja.
This development comes as the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and its candidate in the November 11, 2023 governorship election, Muritala Ajaka, continue to challenge the declaration of Ododo as the winner of the poll.
Ododo emerged victorious in the election with 446,237 votes, defeating his closest rival, Ajaka, who secured 259,052 votes. Notably, Dino Melaye of the Peoples Democratic Party polled 46,362 votes to emerge a distant third.
The three-member tribunal, chaired by Justice Ado Birnin-Kudu, fixed the date for Ododo and APC’s defence after the SDP and Ajaka concluded presenting their case.
Initially indicating they had 400 witnesses, the petitioners only called 25 witnesses during the proceedings. The petition named the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Ododo, and APC as the first to third respondents, respectively.
During Friday’s proceedings, the counsel for INEC, Ododo, and APC opposed the move by Jibrin Okutepa (SAN) to lead a digital forensic expert, Edidiong Udoh, in evidence. They argued that the petitioners failed to list the witness’s name in the proof of evidence, and the witness statement on oath was not provided alongside the petition. Additionally, they contended that the petitioners served them the analysis reports of the witness minutes before the proceedings began.
However, Okutepa insisted that the witness was listed in the petition and that his statement was front-loaded. The tribunal granted Okutepa’s request to lead Udoh in evidence and allowed time for the respondents to study the report.
Before adopting his statement on oath, Udoh sought to amend a portion of his statement, explaining that a particular phrase was inaccurate. Despite objections from the respondents’ lawyers, the tribunal admitted the documents and urged the respondents to reserve their objections for the final address.
During cross-examination, Udoh clarified that he led a team of eight experts in conducting the analysis. Responding to questions about the absence of the other experts’ names and signatures in the report, Udoh stated that he signed as the team lead and explained the uniform qualifications among the experts.
The proceedings continue as both parties present their cases before the tribunal.