The Supreme Court, on Monday, finally dismissed an appeal filed by Senator Smart Adeyemi against the judgements of the two lower courts on the All Progressives Congress’ primary election, which held in Kogi State on April 15, 2023.
The Supreme Court, in a unanimous judgement, held that the appeal lacked merit, having failed to challenge the concurrent findings of both the High and Appeal Courts, or demonstrate that same were perverse.
The Apex Court also held that the two issues raised in the Appellant’s brief were unreasonable, vexatious, not triable and against the provisions of Section 132 and 133(1) of the Evidence Act 2011.
Adeyemi, who served as the 9th Assembly member for the Kogi West Senatorial District, filed a lawsuit in the Federal High Court to invalidate the APC primary election that resulted in Usman Ododo serving as the party’s nominee for the November 11 governorship election in the state. Both the Federal High Court and the Court of Appeal dismissed the lawsuit for lack of merit.
With regard to appeals against concurrent findings of the two lower courts, the apex court only has the authority to act when the findings are claimed to be perverse, so the court first struck out the appellant’s first notice of appeal. The appellant had relied on the second notice of appeal filed.