The Court of Appeal in Abuja on Thursday night dismissed the appeal filed against Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi.
It affirmed that Fayemi was duly elected.
A three man panel of Justices of the Court of Appeal of Abuja Division, led by Justice Stephen Adah, in a judgment dismissed the appeal filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olusola Eleka and the PDP on the ground that the appeal lacked merit.
The tribunal in the judgment resolved all seven issues raised by the appellants in favour of the respondents.
Respondents in the appeal are the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), All Progressives Congress (APC) and Governor Fayemi.
In a unanimous judgment, the court described the appeal as “unmeritorious.”
Justice Adah affirmed the January 28, 2019 judgment of the Ekiti State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal which upheld Fayemi’s victory at the poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared that Fayemi and his party, the APC polled a total of 197,459 votes to defeat Eleka of the PDP, who placed second with 178,121 votes in the July 14, 2018 election.
Fayemi had won in 12 Local Government Areas of the state while Eleka won in four.
Not satisfied with the outcome, the PDP and Eleka had on August 3, 2018 filed their petition before the Ekiti State Election Petitions Tribunal which sat and delivered its judgment in Abuja.
The petitioners alleged among others in their petition that the election was marred by irregularities, including non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
But the tribunal on January 28, 2019, dismissed their petition and affirmed the results declared by INEC.
The petitioners appealed to the Court of Appeal, raising seven issues against the judgment of the tribunal.
Justice Adah who gave only a summary of the Court of Appeal’s verdict on Thursday, resolved all the issues raised in the appeal against the appellants in favour of the respondents.
The court, which had conducted a hearing on the appeal, earlier on Tuesday, dismissed the case in its judgment on Thursday for lacking in merit.
Felix Omohomhion, Abuja
