By Kamil Opeyemi
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State on Tuesday congratulated the winner of the Kogi Central senatorial election petition Mrs Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Bello, in a short video, said he as the Governor, accepted the decision of the appellate court and which ruled that Akpoti-Uduaghan won the election.
Bello called on the people of Kogi to come together in support for the winner of the petition saying both he and Akpoti-Uduaghan were from the same
Senatorial district and belong to the same tribe.
Akpoti-Uduaghan had accused Bello of intimidating her in her journey to contesting the election.
The Senator elect who would not be sworn in on Wednesday also revealed that she had it on good authority that Bello had approached the First Lady , Senator Oluremi Tinubu to assist in preventing the nullification of the election of the APC candidate in favour of Akpoti-Uduaghan.
Also speaking in Abuja shortly after the verdict of the court, Bello said,
” Today as the executive governor of Kogi, I received the news of the decision of the Court of Appeal, notifying the election of Abubakar Ohere and affirming Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan as the Senator representing Kogi Central.
” I accept the decision of the appeal court and I use this opportunity to congratulate my sister Natasha Akpoti-Uduagan, as the Senator of the Kogi Central Senatorial District.
” Let me also use this opportunity to congratulate everybody that has participated so far in this democratic process. This is the beauty of democracy,” he said.
Bello said that although he didn’t plan to lose the election, he had accepted the ruling in good faith.
” However, both Natasha Akpoti and Abubakar Ohere are my brother and sister. We all hailed from the same senatorial district, the same tribe and the same heritage,” Bello said.
The governor called on the people of Kogi Central to accept the decision of the appeal Court and work hand-in-hand with all the elected members of the state and National Assembly.
” Let us drive the course of development of our dear senatorial district our state and the nation at large.
” I thank the wise men who took this decision, I appreciate all the processes that culminates into today’s decision.
” We in Kogi central, we in Kogi state we will continue to be united, we have a larger picture ahead of us which is the Nov. 11 governorship election that we are poise to win with landslide,” he said.
Bello enjoined the people of Kogi not to be distracted, ahead of the Nov.11 governorship election.
“All hands must be on the deck to ensure that we have a hitch-free campaign, a violent free election and resounding victory on the end of the day.”
The three-member panel, in a unanimous judgment delivered by Justice Hamma Barka, upheld the judgment of the state’s election tribunal and dismissed the appeal filed by Sen. Abubakar Ohere of the APC.
The court agreed with the submission of counsel for Akpoti-Uduagan, Mr Johnson Usman, SAN, for being meritorious.
The panel agreed that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to give good reason for not collatibg results in parts of Kogi central particularly in Ganaja/Ajaokuta Ward where results in nine polling units were not collated.