The three man panel of Osun state Election petition tribunal, Justices, Elizabeth Ikpejime, Victor Ofesi and A. I. Kutigi, have unanimously thrown away the petition of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its candidate in the August 9, 2014 governorship election, Senator Iyiola Omisore.
Reacting to the judgment, Governor Rauf Aregbesola described it as triumph of the will of the people and pledged to continue working in the interest of the electorates. The panel led by Mrs Ikpejime, in its over seven hours judgement held that the petitioners failed to prove alleged irregularities pleaded in their petitions.
They further held that none of the witnesses called by the petitioner proved the allegation of inducement of voters with money and food, hence, the petitioners abandoned their case. The panel also ruled that all the witnesses called by the petitioners under cross examination, admitted that they were accredited and voted, contrary to the petitioners’ allegation that there were no accreditation of voters.
According to the judgement, allegation of underage participating in election, intimidation, multiple voting, harassment of voters, as alleged by the petitioners were not proved beyond reasonable doubt by any of the witnesses. “All the major grounds of the petitioners, which include the 17 local government areas of the state that the petitioners prayed the court to nullify, were also not proved beyond reasonable doubt and has no merit,” the court held.
The court also held that the petitioners have failed to produce relevant evidence in proving the case of corrupt practices, adding that all the party agents of the petitioners admitted signing the form EC8A, which is the form containing the total vote recorded. “From the totality of the evidence and findings, the petitioners have failed to argue their case and thus shown that the petitioners lack pre-requisites to prove their case.
Speaking after the judgement, counsel to the respondents, Chief Felix Fagbohungbe (SAN), commended the tribunal for taking seven and half hours to give the judgement in a manner that was well fashioned out with simple language which every Nigerians can comprehend. Also, lead counsel to the petitioners, Chief Nathaniel Oke (SAN), commended the tribunal for objective verdict, saying “the judgement was bounding on the parties but not final.”
