The Kogi state governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja on Monday, affirmed the election victory of Yahaya Bello as the duly elected governor of Kogi State.

The tribunal dismissed the case filed by the Social Democratic Party and its candidate in the 2019 governorship election in the state, Natasha Akpoti.

Akpoti and her party had challenged Bello and APC’s victory at the polls, alleging irregularities during the election.

However, the three-man panel of the tribunal led by Kashim Kaigama, on Monday, dismissed their suit and ordered them to pay N100,000 to each of the respondents.

The respondents in the suit are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the All Progressive Congress (APC), and Bello.

The total cost to be paid by the petitioners sums up to N600,000.

Reports recalls Bello polled 406,222 votes during the election to defeat Musa Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 189,704, while Akpoti got 9,482 votes.

Meanwhile, the tribunal is yet to fix a date for the judgment of the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate Musa Wada.