The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has fixed November 19, 2026, to deliver judgment in a suit challenging the emergence of former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, as the All Progressives Congress candidate for the Kogi Central Senatorial District in the 2027 general election.
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Justice Inyang Ekwo reserved the matter for judgment on Monday after the parties adopted their final written addresses in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1085/2026.
The action was instituted by Momoh Yusuf Obaro, an APC senatorial aspirant who is asking the court to nullify Bello’s emergence and declare him the lawful winner of the party’s May 18, 2026 primary election.
The APC, Bello and the Independent National Electoral Commission are defendants in the suit.
Obaro’s case is that he secured the majority of the lawful votes cast during the primary and should therefore have been recognised as the party’s candidate.
He alleged that despite his claim to have won the lawful votes, the APC sidelined him and submitted Bello’s name to INEC.
The plaintiff is asking the court to declare him the bona fide APC candidate for Kogi Central and compel the party to forward his name to INEC.
He is also seeking an order directing INEC to accept, recognise and publish his name as the APC candidate for the senatorial election.
The claim is being contested by Bello and the APC.
While adopting his final arguments, Bello urged the court to dismiss the action, describing Obaro’s claims as lacking merit.
Bello relied on the results officially announced after the May 18 direct primary, according to which he polled 72,399 votes, while Ibrahim Yakubu Adoke received 319 votes and Obaro scored 188 votes.
Those figures were announced by the returning officer, Sadiq Mohammed, at the collation centre in Okene after voting across the five local government areas that constitute Kogi Central.
Bello therefore maintained that he was the winner of the primary and argued that Obaro’s assertions were “outrageous, contrived and misleading.”
The former governor also raised a procedural objection to the suit, drawing the court’s attention to what his legal team said was the absence of an affidavit supporting the plaintiff’s action as required by law.
The APC similarly urged the court to dismiss Obaro’s case for want of merit.
Other reports on the proceedings indicate that Obaro has also raised questions concerning Bello’s participation in the primary, including allegations relating to whether the former governor was screened and cleared and whether he had withdrawn from the contest. Those assertions are disputed and remain among the issues before the court.
The court has made no finding on those allegations.
The May 18 primary had resulted in Bello being officially declared winner after the returning officer announced that he received 72,399 votes against Adoke’s 319 and Obaro’s 188.
Obaro, however, maintains that the issue before the court goes beyond the figures announced by the party and concerns which votes were lawfully cast and who was legally entitled to emerge as the APC candidate.
His substantive reliefs therefore seek to overturn Bello’s nomination and replace him as the party’s candidate for Kogi Central.
Bello and the APC maintain the opposite position and have asked Justice Ekwo to uphold the outcome announced by the party and dismiss the suit.
After the parties adopted their final briefs, Justice Ekwo reserved judgment until November 19, 2026.
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