INEC declares Ogun APC Reps candidate winner of rerun election

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Hon. Kolapo Osunsanya, as the winner of a rerun election ordered by the Court of Appeal for the Ijebu-Ode/Odogbolu/Ijebu North East Federal Constituency.

Recall that Osunsanya was sacked by the National and State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Ogun State on September 9, 2019, following a petition filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr Taiwo Shote. The tribunal also ordered a rerun within 90 days.

Osunsanya had approached the Court of Appeal having not satisfied with the judgement delivered by Justice Wakkil Alkali Gana, who upheld the petition of Shote and cancelled elections in Ward 5, Unit 5 in Ijebu Ode; Ward 10, Unit 3 in Odogbolu and the entire Ward 8 in Ijebu North East council areas.

The tribunal held that INEC ought not to have declared Osunsanya as the winner of the election, in line with the provisions of the Electoral Act, because the margin of lead and difference between the petitioner and 1st respondent was less than 4,000 while the total number of cancelled votes was 8,800.

On November 6, 2019, the Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan upheld the judgement of the tribunal.

Osunsanya in a rerun election held on Saturday in three local government areas polled a total vote of 25,959 votes to defeat Shote who had 21,911 votes.

The Returning Officer in-charge of the election, Professor Charles Onwuka, of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), declared the APC candidate as the winner, at the Ijebu-Ode Grammar School Collation centre for the federal constituency, having fulfilled the necessary constitutional requirements.