The tribunal, led by Kemakolam Ojiako, in its ruling on Wednesday, declared Akpoti-Uduaghan of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the Kogi central senatorial election conducted on February 25.
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The tribunal Chairman, Justice K.A. Orjiakoin in his ruling on Wednesday said Uduaghan scored 54,064 votes to defeat her closest rival Sadiku-Ohere who polled 51,291 votes.
He urged Ohere to pay Akpoti-Uduaghan N500,000 for the cost of the petition.
The PDP female candidate had filed her petition at the National and State Assembly Election Petition Tribunal in Kogi after she was declared second in the Central Senatorial election.
When the case came up for adoption of written addresses before the tribunal led by Justice K.A. Ojiako, Counsel to Sadiku-Ohere, APC and INEC, Messers M.Y. Abdullahi (SAN), S.A. Abbas and Dayo Akinlaja (SAN) as 1st, 2nd and 3rd respondents respectively, prayed the tribunal to dismiss her petition for lacking in merit.
The counsel to Akpoti-Uduaghan, Umeh Kalu (SAN) and Johnson Usman (SAN) in adopting their written address debunked the claims of INEC and Sadiku-Ohere, and prayed the Court disregard their submissions and prayers and allow the petition.
Usman, who spoke, said their address was explicit about their disagreement with the issues raised by the INEC and sadiku-Ohere in their written addresses.
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