Court Sacks Kogi East Senator

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on Wednesday ordered the immediate sack of the senator representing Kogi east senatorial district, Senator Attai Aidoko, elected under the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Justice Gabriel Kolawole, in his ruling, also ordered the clerk of the national assembly to immediately swear in Air Marshall Isaac Alfa (rtd.) of the PDP to take the seat of Aidoko.

The court held that Aidoko was not properly nominated by the PDP for the march 2015 national assembly elections and consequently nullified his election. He ordered INEC to immediately withdraw the certificate of return issued to Aidoko in 2015 for not being the lawful candidate of the PDP

The court also ordered the electoral umpire to issue a fresh certificate of return to Alfa being the winner of the December 7, 2014 PDP primaries into the national assembly election.

Justice Kolawole, who condemned the manner in which the PDP subverted the result of it primaries, held that rogue documents were used by the PDP to submit Aidoko’s name to INEC adding that the documents presented by the defendants were of no probate value for any court of law to rely on.

He said from the totality of the evidence placed before the court, it was clear that Sheidu Idoma was the returning officer for the senatorial election and not Umar Sanusi, and that this was corroborated by key witnesses in their statements made on oath.

Justice Kolawole held that the challenge of the court’s jurisdiction was an abuse of court process because it had earlier been resolved both at the court of appeal and the Supreme Court against the senator.

Consequently, the court awarded a cost of n750, 000 on Aidoko and the PDP respectively.

In the document tendered in court by Isaac Alfa, he scored 129 votes against Aidoko who pulled 101 votes and another senatorial aspirant Halima Alfa who scored 80 votes , the PDP however, while submitting the list of candidates for the senatorial election to INEC substituted Alfa with Aidoko’s name.

Alfa had institute legal action in 2014 to challenge the legality of the candidacy of Aidoko