Aregbesola Wins At Election Tribunal

Ogbeni’s Potrait –  (1)

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State

Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State
Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State

The election tribunal sitting in Osun on Friday dismissed the petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Iyiola Omisore, seeking to nullify the result of the governorship election in the state, thereby confirming Rauf Aregbesola as governor of the state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission had returned Rauf Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner after he garnered 392, 284 votes against Omisore’s 292, 742 votes.

In its ruling, according to Nigeria Politics Online (whose reporter was in court), the tribunal held that the witnesses called by the petitioner did not provide compelling evidence to support the petitioner’s claim of corrupt practices during the election.

The tribunal also held that there was nothing to show that the election was conducted without substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.

“The testimonies of these witnesses are unsatisfactory and PDP forensic analyst did not show that ballot papers were not used accordingly,” the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Elizabeth Ikpejime‎, said.

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“As such, their testimonies failed to support their claims. None of them gave evidence on the issue of multiple voting, which they earlier claimed. The panel also held that issue of multiple voting was not found in his examination. On allegations of over-voting, no single evidence of over voting was proved. Similarly, on the allegations that O’Yes was used as INEC officials, there is no such evidence.”

The panel also held that the inability of the petitioner to prove his allegation that security operatives were compromised during the election further damaged the substance of the petition.

Omisore had on August 29 written the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Osogbo to challenge Aregbesola’s victory.

The PDP candidate’s petition, which was in three volumes, claimed that the election was rigged in favour of Aregbesola, and that some members of O-YES were used as INEC ad hoc staff, while some security agents were compromised.

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