Anxiety As Ekiti State Election Petition Tribunal Delivers Judgment Today
The Election Petition Tribunal hearing the dispute arising from the 18 June 2022, governorship election in Ekiti State will deliver its judgment today.
It was learnt that the Tribunal had communicated the date of the judgment to parties before it last Friday, and the notice of the judgment is already creating anxiety in some quarters in the state.
The Tribunal arrived at the 29 December 2022, judgment date as the 180 days stipulated in the Electoral Act within which to hear the petition is expected to lapse on 2nd January 2023.
The Social Democratic Party (SDP) governorship candidate and former state governor, Chief Segun Oni, had on 7th July filed a petition at the Tribunal challenging the declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Governor Biodun Oyebanji, by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the election.
Oni and SDP are the 1st and 2nd petitioners in the petition. The respondents are Ekiti State Governor Oyebanji (1st); APC (2nd), Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, in his capacity as chairman, APC Caretaker Extraordinary Planning Convention/Committee (3rd); INEC (4th) and Ekiti State Deputy Governor, Mrs. Monisade Afuye (5th).
The Tribunal chaired by Justice Wilfred Kpochi had on 23 November 2022, adjourned indefinitely for judgment after parties in the petition had adopted their final written addresses before the three-member panel.
INEC had in the early hours of 19 June 2022, declared Oyebanji the winner of the poll with a total number of 187,057 with the APC candidate winning in 15 out of the 16 local government areas.
Oni who came second with 82,211 votes did not win any local government area while the PDP candidate, Chief Bisi Kolawole, who won in one local government area came third with 67,457 votes.
The total number of accredited voters was 356,438 while the total number of valid votes cast was 369,753. The total number of rejected votes was 8,888.
Oni had urged the Tribunal to allow his petition and declare him the winner of the poll claiming to have scored a total number of the highest lawful votes cast on grounds that Oyebanji’s nomination by Buni in his capacity as the APC National Caretaker Chairman was illegal.
But Oyebanji, APC, Buni, INEC and Afuye urged the Tribunal to dismiss the petition on the ground that it lacked merit, urging the panel to uphold the election on grounds that it complied with the Electoral Act and the Constitution.
