The Ogun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, on Saturday, upheld the electoral victory of Prince Dapo Abiodun as the duly elected Governor of the state in the March 18 election.
The Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Hon Oladipupo Adebutu, had approached the court to challenge Abiodun’s victory on three grounds on allegations of non-compliance; overvoting; disenfranchisement of voters and corrupt practices during the polls.
In the unanimous judgement delivered by the three-man panel chaired by Justice Hamidu Kanaza, which lasted eleven hours, the Tribunal uphold the election of Abiodun.
Kunaza said, “I uphold the election of Dapo Abiodun as the dully elected governor of Ogun State in the March 18 election.”
The panel noted that the petition marked EPT/ OG/GOV/03/2023, lacked merit and thereby dismissed.
The Tribunal averred that the petitioners failed to produce about 49,000 voters said to have been disenfranchised as witnesses in the matter.
The Panel said, “On disenfranchisement, Tribunal holds that all disenfranchised voters must testify that they were ready to vote; if they were allowed to vote their candidate would have won; and that they had their voters’ cards and were registered voters
“These requirements were not met in this case as the 49,000 plus witnesses that Petitioners allege were disenfranchised were not produced as witnesses.”
Reading the judgement, Kunaza held that the petitioners failed to prove the fact of their case, saying “On the whole the petitioners have not successfully prove the allegation of non compliance with the electoral act and have not discharge the burden of prove”.
The Tribunal said the petitioners failed on the third ground based on the allegation that Abiodun was once detained in the United States, the Tribunal said it was not persuaded in anyway.
It said that the petitioners could not prove that it was Governor Abiodun’s fingerprints that are on the jail intake document tendered before the court as evidence of having a criminal record.
The Panel said, “That petitioners have not linked the Governor to the name Shawn Michael on that document and the witness who tendered it never even said how he came upon that document, having conceded that he had never been to Florida before his testimony
“Tribunal adds that assuming the Governor was truly the arrested in the jail intake document, the Constitution disqualifies a candidate for a conviction within the last 10 years preceding the election but that the incident in the jail intake form occurred in 1986 – 37 years ago.”
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ogun state has congratulated the State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun (CON), on the victorious judgment delivered by the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal on Saturday.
The Tribunal, sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun state capital, and chaired by Justice H. N. Kunaza, and supported by Justice J B Egele and Justice Sannusi Shehu had dismissed the petition filed by the PDP and its defeated candidate, Ladi Adebutu, on the grounds of incompetence , vagueness and lack of understanding of the usage of the wordings of the Electoral Act, among others; resulting i inability of the petitioners to prove any of the grounds of the petition.
The APC, in a statement by its publicity secretary, Tunde Oladunnoye, quoted the state Chairman of the party, Chief Yemi Sanusi, as describing the victory of the party at the polls and the tribunal as “divine mandate”.
“We went round the 20 local government areas of the state, we went to some local governments twice, we campaigned vigorously in the wards, we showcased what our party and government have done in four years.l and was doing. In most of our campaigns, we commissioned projects and inaugurated new ones which was unprecedented in the electioneering annals of Nigeria. Our people believed in us, trusted us and voted for continuity. We had no doubt about our electoral victory and It was indeed a divine mandate,” Sanusi said.
“We have always known that the PDP is as disorganized as its ramshackle petitions. which the party and its highly incompetent and run away defeated candidate knew or ought to have known cannot succeed. They merely wanted to reap where they did not sow, forgetting that you can’t build something on nothing. The tribunal has rightly done justice and due diligence to their spurious petitions. We only hope that Ladi Adebutu will eat the humble pie and return to Nigeria and face his criminal charges of votes buying and money laundering hanging on his neck at the High Court. We challenge him to be man enough to return to Nigeria,” the APC chairman said.
Sanusi also commended the victorious legal team.
“Our party and Governor assembled the best brains in election tribunal warfare in Nigeria today. There is no election dispute of note that is relied on in this case that at least one of our lawyers is not a part of,” he added.
“Finally, to God be the biggest credit and glory. We appreciate the unusual grace of God upon Prince Dapo Abiodun, to the chagrin of his detractors. Not many have this grace that when you think they are locked in, God opens the roof for them to walk free. Till today, many cannot understand why God chose Dapo Abiodun against all odds, but He did, and there is nothing his detractors could do about it,” Sanusi concluded.
. TheWitness
