A Civil Society Organisation under the auspices of 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 newsmen on Tuesday, Spokesperson of the group, Prince Kolawole Abiodun alleged that the inconsistencies witnessed in the Kogi state governorship case, compared to that of Bayelsa State call for a serious concern.
He said: “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 dismissed it on the grounds of not proving beyond reasonable doubt.
Read Also: Kogi guber dispute: Ajaka insists on retrieving stolen mandate
“In the Bayelsa APC Vs PDP case, the tribunal and the Appeal Court affirmed the judgement in favour of the PDP, on the basis of missing BVAS evidence the APC Gubernatorial candidate did not produce to prove over-voting.
“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.
“We however, express confidence in the Supreme Court, to thoroughly stand by justice,and maintain public confidence in its ability to deliver impartial and well-reasoned judgement.”