Appeal court Abuja division has reserved judgement in Kogi governorship legal tussle till a date to be communicated to parties.
The appellate court reserved the judgment after hearing submission from all parties involved in the matter.
The appeals were filed by James Faleke of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the decision of the Kogi State governorship election petition tribunal which upheld the election of Yahaya Bello as the validly elected governor.
Counsel for Faleke, Akin Olujimi, urged the Appeal Court to set aside the decision of the tribunal and invalidate the election of Yahaya Bello on the ground that Bello was not properly nominated.
He submitted that Bello did not undergo all the electioneering processes as required by law before he emerged as his party’s candidate in re-run election.
In his own submission, Joseph Daodu, who is counsel for Governor Bello, insisted that the issue of nomination of candidates for election was the sole responsibility of a political party.
Daodu submitted that Governor Bello, having been nominated by the APC in compliance with the existing law and authority of the party remained the candidate of his party in the election.
While counsel for INEC, Ahmed Raji, asked the court to uphold the election of Yahaya Bello on the ground that he was properly nominated by APC as a replacement to Abubakar Audu who passed away during the election.
Justice Hannatu Sankey, who presided over the sitting announced that the date for judgment would be communicated to parties in the matter.
