By Banji Ayoola
The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Ondo State has given reasons why it wants the election of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, annulled.
It unveiled the grounds on which it approached the tribunal in a statement on Sunday by its spokesman in the state, Mr Kennedy Ikantu Peretei.
This is coming barely 48 hours to the inaugural sitting on Tuesday, December 8, of the Ondo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal in Akure, the state capital.
According to the statement: “Eyitayo Jegede, the Candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has dragged the All Progressives Congress (APC) Candidate, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN before the Tribunal to answer for perceived infractions on the laws of the land. Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN is leading a team of legal luminaries to prosecute this legal fireworks.
“The grounds of the petition include that Oluwarotimi Akeredolu was not validly nominated by his party APC.
“By the provisions of section 183 of the 1999 Constitution, a serving Governor of a State( in this case, Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni) can not serve as the National Chairman of APC at the same time to nominate Akeredolu as Candidate of their Party for the Ondo Elections.
“Section 183 states “The Governor shall not, during the period when he holds office, hold any other executive office or paid employment in any capacity whatsover”.
“In other words, Akeredolu was not validly nominated and as such APC had no candidate for the Ondo Election.
“Article 17 section iv of the APC Constitution also provides that, any official of the party cannot simultaneously occupy any other executive office in government.
“It states “No officer in any organ of the party shall hold executive position office in government concurrently.” Again Buni ran foul of this provision.
“The Election was marred with violence in some Local Governments as well as over voting in other areas.
“These are some of the grounds that Jegede is relying on and asking the Tribunal to declare him as the validly elected Governor of Ondo State.”
Justice Umar Abubakar, leading two other Justices would hear the petition filed by Eyitayo Jegede, SAN against Akeredolu, who was declared winner of the October 10, 2020 Election by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Election Tribunals are established pursuant to section 285 of the Nigerian 1999 Constitution ( as Amended)and section 133 of the Electoral Act 2011 (as Amended) to address disputes arising from Elections.
Earlier, while swearing in Justices of the Election Petitions Tribunals for Edo and Ondo States in Abuja, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Tanko Muhammad admonished the Judges, saying: “All eyes will be on you and always remember that your conducts will be publicly dissected and thoroughly scrutinized. Do what is right in our Law books and you will have your names etched in gold.”
The statement said: “Flowing from this admonition and given the character and track record of the Justices in the panel, it is believed that justice will be served at the end of the day.”
INEC had declared Akeredolu winner of the governorship election held in the state on Saturday, October 10, 2020.
According to the results announced by the commission, the governor and the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate, polled 292,830 votes to defeat other contestants including Jegede, the first runner up.
The Returning Officer and vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan, UI, Prof Idowu Olayinka, had declared that candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Eyitayo Jegede, trailed behind the winner with 195,791 votes, a difference of 97,039 votes; while the incumbent Deputy Governor, Agboola Ajayi of the Zenith Labour Party, ZLP, scored 69,127 votes to come a distant third.
Olayinka made the declaration at about 3 p.m. on Sunday, October 11, after all the results across the state’s 18 local government areas had been collated
According to the official results announced by the commission at its headquarters in Abuja, Akeredolu won in 15 of the state’s 18 local government areas.
His main challenger, Jegede, won in the remaining three local governments.mAltogether, 17 candidates took part in the election.
Olayinka said that 572,745 valid votes were recorded while 18,448 were rejected, and about 16,000 votes cancelled.
Akeredolu had also defeated Jegede in the 2016 governorship election. Then, Ajayi was Akeredolu’s running mate.
