Election tribunal upholds Ekiti Governor Fayemi’s victory

The Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja, the nation’s capital, yesterday upheld the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the July 14, 2018 election, Dr Kayode Fayemi.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, challenged the declaration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of Fayemi as winner of the poll and lost.

APC members trooped out in their thousands on the streets of Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, dancing from Odo Ado to the Government House.

They ended their procession at the party’s secretariat in Ajilosun.

In its judgment delivered by Justice Suleiman Belgore, the tribunal said Fayemi was validly elected, contrary to the position of the PDP and Olusola.

Fayemi polled 197,459 voted to defeat Olusola, who got 178,022 votes to become the runner-up.

The tribunal began sitting in Ekiti last August before it relocated to Abuja, citing reasons of insecurity in the state.

The APC members, who started their jubilation from Odo Ado, were led by a House of Representatives candidate in Ekiti Central Federal Constituency I, Sola Fatoba, and the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the Governor on Mobilisation, Tunji Ogunlola.

Ogunlola, who addressed the crowd, said Fayemi worked hard to win the election and that the judgment confirmed the position of the party.

The party supporters danced to the music supplied by a popular musician in Ekiti State.

The long convoy of vehicles caused traffic congestion on Ado-Ikere-Akure road.

The APC in the state had described the victory as expected, saying the party perpetrated no electoral fraud in the election to warrant the nullification and upturn its outcome.

The state’s APC Deputy Chairman Sola Elesin said: “We are happy over the outcome of the election, but we are not in any way surprised. This is because a transparent election was held on July 14, last year. It was clear that Governor Fayemi won fair and square.

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“So, we are not afraid, even if they want to appeal the judgment. We are ready for them because we have no skeleton in our cupboard. There were no cases of electoral malpractices.”

On the allegation that the shake-up in the Judiciary concerning the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen, was part of the alleged plot by APC to win at the tribunal, Elesin said: “They only wanted to damage the reputation of the Judiciary.

“We had won two litigations since Fayemi came on board. He was taken to the court on his eligibility to contest the APC governorship primary and he won. He was taken to the Election Petitions Tribunal and he also came out victorious.

“We will continue to win because we have no skeleton in our cupboard.”

But Olusola said the PDP would appeal the judgment.

The former deputy governor, who spoke through the erstwhile Director of Media of his campaign organisation, Lere Olayinka, said: “That is not the last bus stop as regards the Election Petitions Tribunal.

“The law is very clear regarding the hierarchies of courts we can approach to seek redress on this issue. We are surely going to appeal the judgment.”

Also, Ekiti State Deputy Governor Bisi Egbeyemi said Fayemi’s victory at the tribunal would strengthen the APC in Ekiti ahead of the forthcoming elections.

In a statement by his Special Assistant (SA) on Media, Odunayo Ogunmola, the deputy governor said: “We thank God Who gave us this victory and we thank Ekiti people who voted for us and all our supporters all over the world.

“This will surely make us to have more friends and more supporters and victory is assured for President Muhammadu Buhari in Ekiti and other parts of Nigeria.

“This judgment is a plus to our party; I just want to urge members of our party and teeming supporters to take it with joy and be careful when they are celebrating so as not to offend others.”

The PDP said it will contest the verdict at the Court of Appeal.

A statement yesterday in Abuja, the nation’s capital, by its spokesman Kola Ologbondiyan, said: “The PDP holds that the Court of Appeal will consider the matter strictly on its merit, particularly with the abounding evidence of rigging, including violence, vote-buying, ballot stuffing and alteration of results perpetuated by the APC are still intact…”