The governorship election petition tribunal sitting in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital on Monday affirmed the victory of Governor Seyi Makinde but dismissed the petition of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in March 9, 2019 governorship election, Adebayo Adelabu.
The three-man tribunal in a unanimous judgment delivered by its chairman, Justice Sirajo Muhammed, upheld the election of Makinde, as the winner of the election.
Adelabu and APC, who were the first and second petitioners respectively prayed the tribunal to declare Adelabu as the winner of the March 9 governorship election, claiming he scored the majority of lawful votes cast in the election.
The tribunal held that the first and second petitioners failed to prove the allegations of corrupt practices, over voting, improper accreditation, inaccurate ballot counting and substantial non-compliance with the 2010 electoral act as amended in their petitions
The petitioners had also prayed the Tribunal to nullify the declaration of Makinde as governor by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), saying there were irregularities in the election.
They further contested the results of election in four local governments out of 33 local government areas as well as 1426 polling units out of 4383 polling units and 27 wards out of 351 wards in the state.
But the tribunal however nullified the result of the election in unit 003, ward 9 of Ido local government deducting a total of 128 votes from the votes cast for PDP and APC in the areas affected.
According to the tribunal, the petitioners did not provide alternative scores to prove they got the majority of lawful votes.The evidences of those who are at the polling units are evidences of eyewitnesses. Out of 69 witnesses, 37 are polling units agents and out of the remaining 32 witnesses, 27 are ward agents which means their evidences are hearsays .
Muhammed said the “evidences required is not the one of hear says but that of eye witnesses who are on ground.The petitioners must prove their allegations and tender documents to prove that there were irregularities during the election,”
On over-voting, the tribunal said the petitioners only presented 37 polling units agents out of 1,426 polling units where illegalities and irregularities were alleged saying that the failure of the petitioners to present polling units agents in the remaining polling units means “the evidences of 1389 polling units are deemed abandoned.
The petitioners, the tribunal said also, failed to tender the necessary documents to justify the allegations of over-voting and disenfranchisement of voters and also failed to prove how the allegations affected them or the result of the election.
“The result of a polling unit can only be cancelled if the number of votes casted is more than the number of accredited voters or the number of registered voters, not when the number of votes casted is less than the number of accredited voters or the number of registered voters. There is no law that compels all accredited voters to vote in an election and the respondents cannot be blamed or held responsible for the voter’s infraction.
“It is the duty of the petitioners to tender exhibits and call witnesses in all the polling units being contested. The petitioners are supposed to tender the statement of results, the voters register and complete card reader report.
According to the tribunal, the petitioners were not able to prove the allegations of corrupt practices and substantial non-compliance with the 2010 electoral act as amended beyond reasonable doubt.There is no singular evidence before us that the first and second respondent engaged in corrupt practices during the election.”
The tribunal however nullified the result of the election in unit 003, ward 9 of Ido local government because the returning officer presented two different results with different figures, one signed and the other unsigned.
With the nullifications, the tribunal said 68 votes was deducted from the APC while 60 votes was deducted from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). This leaves APC with a total of 357, 914 votes and the PDP with 515,561 votes.
The tribunal stated that even if the results of the polling units being contested by the APC were nullified, 2868 votes would be deducted from the APC while 5302 would be deducted from the PDP, still both parties results will be APC 355,114, PDP 510,319 but still give the umbrella party with 155, 255 margin of victory.
The tribunal however awarded a cost of N200,000 each in favour of the respondents.
REMI FEYISIPO,Ibadan
