The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Isabo, Abeokuta, Ogun State, has affirmed the election of the state governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, as the winner of the April 11 state’s governorship election.
The three-man panel, headed by Justice Henry Olusiyi, ruled that the petitioner failed to prove his case of electoral fraud in nine local government ares beyond reasonable doubt.
In a judgment that lasted for four hours, 20 minutes, Justice Olusiyi said, “The case is hereby dismissed for lack of merit.”
The Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Mr. Gboyega Isiaka, had challenged the election, which returned the incumbent, Amosun of the All Progressives Congress, as the duly elected governor in the April 11 election.
He had alleged that the election was fraught with irregularities and electoral malpractices in nine local government areas of the state, namely Abeokuta South, Abeokuta North, Odeda, Ewekoro, Ifo, Obafemi-Owode, Ado-Odo/Ota, Sagamu and Remo North.
The PDP candidate claimed that the election was marred by electoral malpractices such as rigging, snatching of ballot of boxes, thuggery, violence, declaration of false results, falsification and forgery of result sheets, importation of voters from foreign location, stuffing of ballot boxes, misuse of card readers and permanent voter cards.
Isiaka and the PDP alleged that the conduct of the election was characterised by manifested act of bias, nepotism and favouritism to the benefit of Amosun.
He added that the governorship election conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission in the state was characterised by non-compliance with the provisions of Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
Justice Olusiyi noted that the petitioners failed to prove their case against the respondents beyond reasonable doubt.
He said the petitioners had alleged rigging, snatching of ballot boxes, declaration of false results, importation of voters, non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended) and other electoral malpractices.
He noted that the petitioners had prayed the tribunal to declare that Amosun was not duly elected and prayed that he (Isiaka) be declared the winner of the election.
Olusiyi added that the petitioners presented nine witnesses in the process of the trial.
He said that all witnesses called by the petitioners (PW1-PW7) failed to substantiate their claims as contained in their statement of oaths.
Giving the verdict, the tribunal ruled that all the witnesses called by the petitioners failed to substantiate the weighty allegations.
He added, “Though the petitioners claimed substantial irregularities in nine local governments amounting to 1,672 polling units, they were only able to prove a few.”
The judge noted that the principal witnesses of the petitioners were inconsistent in their testimonies, hence, they could not be relied upon by the tribunal.
Justice Olusiyi added that the expert presented by the petitioners was a statistician and not a forensic expert, thus his competence on the analysis of the biometric data could not be relied upon by the court.
While making clarification on why the tribunal could not rely on most of the exhibits submitted by the petitioners, Justice Olusiyi, who cited almost 100 cases during the judgment, said “tendering of documents without proof and proving of logical argument and genuine evidences in support could be regarded as dumping of documents on the court.”
He thus affirmed the victory of the election of Amosun.
He said, “The petitioners have failed to prove their case against the respondent either in the balance of probability or beyond reasonable doubt.
“The petition filed by the petitioner on April 30 is dismissed. The election of the respondent is hereby affirmed.” Click to signup for FREE news updates, latest information and hottest gists everyday
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