6th August, 2024
By Richard Elesho/Kogi
A Civil Society group, Electoral Integrity and Good Governance Initiative, EIGGI, has appealed to the supreme Court Judges handling the Kogi state Governorship election appeal before it to look into the case properly in a bid to correct what they described as “the mistake of the lower courts.”
In a statement made available to journalists on Tuesday, Prince Kolawole Abiodun, spokesperson of the group, said the inconsistencies in the Kogi State Governorship case, compared to that of Bayelsa State calls for a serious concern.
According to him, in the Kogi state SDP Versus APC case, the election petition tribunal, despite compelling BVAS evidences displayed openly on order of the court, exposing clear discrepancies between the number of accredited voters and the final results in all the polling units in contention, the tribunal went ahead to dismiss it on the grounds of not proving beyond reasonable doubt.
He noted that in the Bayelsa APC Vs PDP case, the tribunal and the Appeal Court affirmed the judgement in favor of the PDP, on the basis of missing BVAS evidence the APC Gubernatorial candidate did not produce to prove over-voting.
The statement adds that the Bayelsa judgement appears to set a precedent for the importance of BVAS in the electoral process as it was introduced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as a means to ensure transparency and accountability in the voting process.
The group expressed confidence in the Supreme Court to thoroughly stand by justice and maintain public confidence in its ability to deliver impartial and well-reasoned judgement.
