Ekiti guber: Oyebanji tenders INEC documents to defend re-election

Ekiti State Governor, Biodun Oyebanji, on Tuesday tendered key documents before the Election Petition Tribunal in defence of his victory in the June 20 governorship election.

Oyebanji, the All Progressives Congress (APC) flag bearer and second respondent in separate petitions filed by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Action Alliance (AA), opened his defence by tendering the documents before closing his case.

In the petitions challenging his return, the governor, through his lead counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, tendered Certified True Copies (CTCs) of sensitive electoral documents obtained from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The documents included Form EC8D, which summarised results from the local government areas collated at the state level; Form EC8E, the official result sheet for the governorship election as declared at the conclusion of collation; and an official INEC receipt for payment for the CTCs of the election results.

In both petitions, all the documents tendered by the second respondent were admitted and marked as exhibits. There was no objection to their admissibility from INEC’s lead counsel, Mr Sulaiman Ibrahim, SAN, or Mrs Olaoluwa Adeoti, who held brief for the lead counsel to the SDP and AA, Mr Adewole Adebayo.

Ikpeazu said that, having reviewed the evidence presented by the petitioners and the testimony obtained during the cross-examination of their witnesses by Oyebanji’s legal team, the second respondent had no intention of calling any witnesses.

On behalf of the governor, Ikpeazu applied to close his client’s case before the tribunal. Counsel to the petitioners and INEC did not oppose the application.

Earlier in the day, INEC’s counsel, Ibrahim, supported by his colleague, Mrs Wendy Kuku, SAN, also tendered relevant documents in support of the conduct of the election and the declaration of its results by the electoral umpire.

The documents tendered by INEC’s legal team included CTCs of Form EC8D, summarising results from all 16 local government areas collated at the state level, and Form EC8E, the official result sheet for the Ekiti governorship election.

Counsel to Oyebanji, the SDP and the AA did not object to the admissibility of the documents. The three-member panel, led by its chairman, Justice Idris Kutigi, subsequently admitted them and marked them as exhibits.

While Ibrahim closed INEC’s case in the SDP petition, Kuku closed the commission’s case in the AA petition.

The two senior lawyers said they were satisfied with the evidence presented during the petitioners’ examination-in-chief and the cross-examination of their witnesses by the respondents’ counsel.

In brief rulings on the two petitions, the tribunal chairman, Justice Kutigi, directed all parties to file and exchange written addresses and replies.

He subsequently adjourned the sitting until Friday, November 20, for the adoption of written addresses by the parties.

The SDP and AA had closed their cases before the tribunal on Thursday, October 22, without calling further witnesses, as the day marked the final day allowed by law for the prosecution of their petitions.

Oyebanji of the APC polled 319,224 votes to secure re-election, defeating the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Dr Wole Oluyede, who came second with 40,543 votes. Oluyede later withdrew his petition before the tribunal.

The African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate, Dare Bejide, came third with 12,872 votes and did not file a petition before the tribunal.

The SDP candidate, Mr Adebayo Alade, who later withdrew from his party’s petition, polled 179 votes, while the AA flag bearer, Mr Olu Omotoso, scored 126 votes in the 2026 Ekiti governorship election.