Appeal Court Declares Kogi East Senatorial Seat Vacant
- Sacks Senator Aidoko from NASS
The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Monday declared Kogi East Senatorial seat vacant with an order annulling the election of Senator Attai Aidoko
Accordingly, the appellate court’s three-member panel quashed the Certificate of Return issued to the sacked lawmaker by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The panel, led by Justice Abdu Aboki, held that Aidoko was not properly nominated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the Kogi East Senatorial poll. It therefore ordered him to immediately stop parading himself as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as his seat has been declared vacant.
The Appeal Court also directed the sacked Senator to pay N1 million to the plaintiff, Isaac Alfa, who it held was the lawfully nominated candidate of the PDP for the election.
Alfa, a former Chief of Air Staff (CAS), had emerged winner of the PDP re-run primaries conducted for the senatorial district, but the Party replaced his name with Aidoko that placed second in the primary poll.
Discontented with the PDP’s action, Alfa approached the Federal High Court in Abuja where Justice Nnamdi Dimgba upheld all his claims. However, dissatisfied with the High court judgment, Senator Aidoko took the matter before the Court of Appeal where his appeal was eventually dismissed on Monday, December 18, 2017.
The governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State did not feature in the senatorial race due to a court judgment that disqualified the Party from fielding a candidate to vie for the seat.
