The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its Governorship Candidate, Musa Wada, in the 2019 election in the State, have refused to give up their legal battle for the Kogi State Governorship seat, despite the Court of Appeal judgement on Saturday, in favour of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and its Candidate, Governor Yahaya Bello.
The PDP and its Candidate, said in a statement on Sunday, that they are confident of winning the battle at the Supreme Court.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, had on Saturday, upheld the election of Governpr Yahaya Bello, after dismissing the appeals filed by the PDP and other political parties.
However, in a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, the PDP said that the judgement of the Court of Appeal in favour of Governor Bello and the APC, “does not vitiate or detract from the fact, by hard evidence, that it won the November 16, 2019, Kogi State Governorship election”.
The party said that it is shocked that the Court of Appeal, in its judgement, decided to discount the merit of the evidences before it, which showed that the PDP Candidate, Wada, scored the highest valid votes in the election.
The PDP observed that the judgement of the Appeal Court would be a major setback to the nation’s democratic process, if left unchallenged, but expressed confidence that justice would be served on the merit of the case by the Supreme Court.
“Our party holds that discounting of hard evidence of over-voting, massive thumb printing, voter intimidation, thuggery, and other irregularities and malpractices used by the APC and compromised INEC Officials to manipulate the results of the election, would be reviewed at the Supreme Court.
“Justice on any matter is based on the weight of evidence before a court. The failure by the Appeal Court to consider key and essential ingredients of evidence before it on their merit, as already admitted and upheld by a judgement of a preceding court, amounted to a frustration of the course of justice in the matter”, the party said.
The PDP restated its insistence that the evidence is clear that its Candidate was the genuine choice of the people in the November 16, 2019, election.
“The people of Kogi State now look up to the Supreme Court, to reverse this injustice handed over to them, especially, given the evidence laid, as affirmed by the courageous verdict of Justice Ohimai Ovbiagele, at the Election Tribunal”, the party added.
It urged the people of Kogi State, not to despair over the judgement of the Court of Appeal, but to remain calm and prayerful, maintaining that justice would “definitely be served at the Supreme Court”.