Ekiti Election: Oni Rejects Tribunal Judgement, Vows To Appeal
The candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the Ekiti State governorship election, Segun Oni, has rejected the judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal that dismissed his complaints. The Tribunal on Thursday upheld the declaration of Biodun Oyebanji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election, but Mr. Oni says the judgment was a miscarriage of justice.
He said the Tribunal failed to consider the facts before it as well as precedents set by the Supreme Court regarding similar cases in which vital pronouncements were made. In the judgment read by the Chairman, Wilfred Kpochi, and a member, Sa’ad Zadawa, the panel resolved all issues in contention against Mr. Oni and his party, the SDP.
The panel held that the petition filed by Mr. Oni against the return of Messrs Oyebanji and Afuye “failed woefully head or tail.” Mr. Oyebanji had polled 187,057 votes to defeat his two closest rivals, Mr. Oni and Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party. Mr. Oni of the SDP had 82,211 votes while the PDP was third with 67,457 votes. But Mr. Oni, on 7 July, filed a petition at the Tribunal challenging the declaration of Mr. Oyebanji by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the election.
The SDP candidate also wanted Governor Oyebanji’s election nullified on the ground that his nomination as the APC candidate was supervised by the party’s then-caretaker committee headed by Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni. He had also alleged massive vote-buying against the ruling party, claiming that he scored the highest number of valid votes in the election and so should be declared the true winner. But the Tribunal concluded otherwise and dismissed his petition.
