A photograph of Opposition leader Raila Odinga, which is alleged to have been on Nyali MP Mohammed Ali's campaign poster, might cost him his seat.
This is after a Nyali constituency voter in Mombasa asked the Court of Appeal to nullify the election of Ali as the area MP.
Daniel Onyango Abwao asked that Ali's election victory be rescinded on grounds that he used Odinga’s photograph in his election material portrait despite being an independent candidate.
Through his lawyer Ahmed Said, Abwao told Justice Alnashir Visram, Justice Wanjiru Karanja and Justice Martha Koome that the high court's decision to reject his evidence about Ali using Raila’s photograph was not accurate.
[caption caption="The poster of Mohamed Ali which had Raila Odinga on"]
[/caption]
He argued that the use of ODM colors and its presidential candidate photographs in the campaign before the General Election gave him an advantage over the ODM candidate which was unfair.
Lawyer Ahmed told the judges that Mohammed Ali admitted having used Raila’s photographs in the campaign material which the trial judge should have considered as a basis of nullifying the election.
“He used ODM party colors and yet he was not an ODM parliamentary candidate. He used the photograph of ODM presidential candidate which made him ride on ODM’s popularity” Ahmed explained.
The lawyer also faulted the High Court trial judge for not taking into consideration his client’s evidence which showed that Ali had an advantage over his ODM parliamentary candidate Said Abdallah.
Ahmed urged the court to allow the appeal and nullify Mohamed Ali’s election arguing the judge had erred in law by failing to consider the evidence he submitted.
[caption caption="Nyali MP Mohamed Ali during a presser"]
[/caption]
The lawyer also asked the court to allow the appeal with the cost put on Mohammed Ali.
