By Barr. E.O. Shadrach, FICMC.
The INEC declared Alh. Ahmed Usman Ododo was duly elected candidate in the Kogi State governorship election held on November 11, 2023, and as such, the Kogi State Governor-Elect. The election also produced Alh. Muri Ajaka of the SDP, the first runner-up, and Sen. Dino Melaye of the PDP, the second runner-up.
The people of Kogi State have made their choice and INEC promptly did their statutory duty by affirming their choice of Alh. Ahmed Usman Ododo.
As the tradition is in our political clime, the contest is not yet over as the aggrieved contestants will dust their gowns and by petition challenge the winner of the election. It should be noted that, at the time of this writing none of the Parties has gone to the Tribunal to seek redress. It is not unlikely that Muri may approach the Tribunal to challenge the result of the election, although the story has it that he is dragging his feet to approach the Tribunal.
Understandably, Muri has a statutory right to contest the outcome of the election at the Tribunal but ask someone who participated in all the activities of the election, it will be safe to say that it will be a fruitless exercise for Muri to think of challenging the result or the outcome of the election simply because the odds, facts, and law are not on his side and approaching the court will amount to “wasting the time of the court”.
To waste the time of the court can arise in different ways and forms. A case or matter is said to waste the time of the court when a party’s case is frivolous, vexatious, intentionally using up court time without good reason, dragging out a case without any good reason, or making unnecessary/ irrelevant motions.
A good observer will simply know that any attempt by Muri to challenge the outcome of the election will be like making a Carmel pass through the eye of a needle. Going by expectation, if Muri decides to challenge the outcome of the election, he will most likely ask the Tribunal to declare the election in the Kogi Central and West as invalid, and/or should be declared the winner of the election.
There is no gainsaying that Muri lacks both Part’s structure and legal foundation to prove any of his petitions if he decides to approach the Tribunal on any of the grounds enumerated above.
Muri seems to lack the basic qualifications for a candidate to contest the election. There was an allegation of fake certificate he filed with the INEC and funnily, his running mate was also caught up in this web. The available facts also show that his nomination on the platform of SDP was in breach of the Electoral Act. These are the odds not in favor of Muri and to all intents and purposes are fundamental legal defaults that cannot be cured by any Court.
The Party on which Muri flagged his contest lacks structure in the Kogi Central and West. Thus, there was virtually no agent of the Party in any of the polling units at the Central and West during the election. To prove his case, Muri will surely need his Party’s agents who witnessed the election which he seeks to dispute.
Muri will not thread on the side of caution if he approaches the Tribunal solely based on his loss of the election in the Central and West respectively. This is because he will be guilty of approbating and reprobating. Mr. Peter Obi tried this at the Presidential Election Tribunal and he failed irredeemably. Muri may not want to make the same mistakes
of that Mr. Peter Obi made.
If Muri loves Kogi State as he claimed, it is now time to work with the Governor-Elect to ensure the dividend of democracy and not to attempt to “waste the time of the Court.”
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