SEGUN AYINDE, ABEOKUTA
The Election Petition Tribunal Sitting in Abeokuta has affirmed the Ogun State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun, as the winner of the 2019 governorship election in the state.
The governorship candidate of the Allied Peoples Movement, Hon. Abdulkadir Adekunle Akinlade had filled an application against Abiodun of the All Progressive Congress at the tribunal to challenge his victory at the poll alleging that the governor presented false certificate to contest the election.
But delivering his judgment on Saturday, the chairman of the three-man panel, Justice Yusuf Halilu struck out the petition of Akinlade and upheld Abiodun as the rightful winner of the March 9 governorship election in the state.
Justice Halilu, who dismissed the petition of Akinlade, said that the petition was destined to fail and thereby upheld Abiodun as the winner of the 2019 governorship in the state.
He said that the tribunal would stand by the decision of the appellate court, adding that the petitioner had also filed an application challenging Abiodun’s qualifications outside the window of the time allowed.
Justice Halilu said that Akinlade failed woefully to prove his claim on the over voting process and the electoral malpractices at the polling units beyond any reasonable doubt, saying that his application lacks merit.
He noted that the 39 principal witnesses provided by Akinlade were not enough to prove the over voting process in 3,210 polling units in the state, adding that the forensic expert invited by the petitioner was not a data analyst.
He said that Abiodun was duly elected as the governor of the state by securing the highest votes and declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission, saying that the tribunal agreed with INEC’s declaration of Abiodun’s victory at the poll.
According to him, “Finally and in the light of everything said above, it is correct to contend that, the second respondent did win the election by the majority of the recorded votes. In contrary, it is crystal clear that he scored a total number of 231,670 votes as against 222,153 scored by the first petitioner.”
“We filed a declaration and returned as shown in the exhibit P330 in order and it will remain. We are satisfied by the electoral provision of section 27 and 69 of the Electoral Act 2010 as amended. We have no reason to tinker with the outcome of the March 9 governorship election in Ogun State. The petition is destined to fail, it fails and his hereby dismissed.” he added.
