14th September, 2019
Governor Dapo Abiodun travelled out of Nigeria on Saturday to Burkina Faso as the Ogun state Election Petition Tribunal gave its verdict on the petition filed by Abdulkabir Adekunle Akinlade of the Allied Peoples Movement.
Abiodun, of the All Progressives Congress, accompanied President Muhammadu Buhari to Burkina Faso to attend the one-day Heads of State and Government Extraordinary Summit on Counter-Terrorism which will held in Ouagadougou.
While away, his opponent, being propped up by his predecessor, Ibikunle Amosun is being drubbed at the tribunal, after losing one of the vital pillars of his case against the governor.
The Tribunal led by Justice Yusuf Halilu in its first ruling dismissed the preliminary objections filed by Akinlade, seeking disqualification of Abiodun on grounds of submitting false academic qualification.
The Tribunal ruled that the issue of information about academic qualification in Abiodun’s sworn affidavit had been laid to rest by the Appeal court, and so, petitioner can’t be allowed to resurrect or open same matter at the Tribunal since the Appellate court had deemed it “statue barred.”
The Tribunal noted it would stand by the decision of the Appellate court, adding that the Petitioner also filed the application challenging Abiodun’s qualification outside the window of time allowed.
The Tribunal is yet to rule on the substantive suit.
Abiodun in several tweets announced his trip with Buhari.
He said that at the Summit, the President and other ECOWAS leaders will take collective decisions on the fight against terrorism, while reviewing the different initiatives already adopted.
“Also accompanying the President are: Governors Bello (Niger) and Ikpeazu (Abia) together with Hon. Ministers Onyeama (Foreign Affairs) and Major-General Magashi (Rtd) (Defence)”, he wrote.