'Declare me winner of Kogi governorship election,' ex-gov tells tribunal

dimeji akinloye

April 14, 2016 10:55 PM

Wada tendered the original copy of his voter card before the tribunal to authenticate his candidacy election.

Governor Idris Wada of Kogi State.

Ex-Kogi Governor,

Wada, who contested the November 21 governorship election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) tendered the card while being led in evidence by his Counsel, Mr Chris Uche (SAN).

Other documents tendered by the ex-governor were the total number of valid votes for the November 21, 2015 and December 5, 2015 governorship election in the state.

The documents also included a nomination form containing his profile, the nomination form for him and his running mate, Mr Yomi Awoniyi as PDP governorship candidates in the state.

Other documents tendered were INEC voter registration for the state, a form bearing the name of Gov. Yahaya Bello without a deputy candidate, a certificate of return for Bello as the state governor.

Also in the document tendered before the tribunal were final list of candidates published by INEC before the election.

In addition, he tendered a letter by Mr James Faleke of the All Progressives Congress (APC) rejecting his nomination to be Bello’s deputy.

The documents also included a letter containing INEC's legal experts opinion to the commission on what to do about the issue of governorship in Kogi.

In addition, a copy of the Federal High Court judgment saying it had no jurisdiction to decide on Kogi governorship matter.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that all the documents were admitted in evidence and marked as exhibits for the matter.

READ: 'I won Kogi governorship election,' Wada tells tribunal

Meanwhile, the ex-governor had appealed to the tribunal to declare him as Kogi governor-elect since he came second during the election after late Abubakar Audu.

He said: "I appeal to this tribunal to declare me as the governor-elect, I also urged INEC to issue to me a certificate of return based on the election held on Nov. 21, 2015 and Dec. 5, 2015.

"I also urge this tribunal to order the cancellation of certificate of return issued to Gov. Bello or in alternative, the election should be canceled and fresh election held.''

During cross examination by Bello’s Counsel, Mahmud Magaji (SAN), Wada told the tribunal that Bello was not validly elected, saying he did not participate in the electioneering process from the beginning.

Wada said Bello was not validly nominated by the APC and was not validly substituted by his party.

dimeji akinloye