The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Lokoja has upheld the election of Senator Sunday Karimi, the lawmaker representing Kogi West senatorial district in the National Assembly.
In its ruling, the tribunal affirmed the election of Senator Karimi and dismissed the petition of the petitioner in its entirety for lacking merit and being completely baseless after examining the petition before it.
The tribunal said it found that the majority of lawful votes cast belonged to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Karimi in the said election, and consequently ordered the plaintiff, T.J. Yusuf of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to pay a fine of N150,000 to the respondents.
Recall that Yusuf had petitioned the tribunal on the ground of non-usage of the BVAS machine in some areas, accusing the ruling APC of rigging the 2023 senatorial election in Kogi West.
Reacting to the court verdict, Karimi said: “The choice of voting for me at the ballot has been further proven. The judiciary has once again stood for the truth, defended our democracy, and entrenched the rule of law through her judgement affirming my return and dismissing the petitioner’s case on all the grounds.”