I won’t vacate Kogi East seat despite court verdict – Aidoko

Senator representing Kogi East, sacked by the Federal High Court in June this year, Atai Aidoko Ali, has insisted he would not vacate the senatorial seat until an appeal of the case, which he recently filed, is determined.
Aidoko said a stay of execution on the High Court judgement has been issued rendering it unenforceable.
A Federal High Court presided over by Gabriel Kolawole in June ordered the immediate sack of Aidoko, ruling that he was wrongly presented as the flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the December 2014 primaries conducted by the party.
Following the presentation of Aidoko as the party’s flag bearer, his challenger, Isaac Alfa, began a legal battle for the nullification of Aidoko’s election.
An appeal court had ordered parties to return to the trial court to allow it determine the rightful owner of the suit, thus rendering the seat vacant.
However, Aidoko refused vacating the office and continued to appear at plenaries.
However, upon return to the High Court, the senator was sacked and ordered the PDP and Aidoko to pay Alfa N750, 000 each.
Despite the judgement, Aidoko continued to attend Senate plenary upon return from break.
Addressing the press shortly after plenary yesterday, Aidoko justified his action on the grounds that he had appealed the judgement and an ‘ambiguity’ of the High Court judgement.
“We are all aware of the judgement of the Federal High Court that determined that somebody, Air Marshall, is the candidate of the party.
It is not the duty of the court to determine who a party’s candidate is, it is the party that determines its candidate.
However, because I have appealed, I don’t want to go into the details of that judgement, it would be prejudicial.

 

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