Kwara Assembly candidate faults tribunal decision

Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the March 9 House of Assembly election in Kwara state, Jimoh Raheem Agboola, has expressed reservations about the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal which ordered a rerun of the Ilorin South House of Assembly election.

Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Thursday, Agboola argued that the tribunal ought to have declared him the true winner of the said poll because of precedents.

“I salute the courage of the judiciary. I commend them that they at least recognized anomalies in the process and ordered a rerun of the race. However, my party and I believe that we were shortchanged. What we demanded was the disqualification of the APC candidate.

The APC candidate could not prove that he has the prerequisite qualification to stand as a candidate at the House of Assembly election. How could INEC have issued a certificate of return to someone who did not partake in the election process in the first place?

“However, I hail the judiciary for ordering that the certificate of return is withdrawn”, he said.

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Jimoh, who said that he was not afraid of elections, however, said that the issue of holding fresh election does not arise as he ought to be declared the winner of the election.

He added that his party, the PDP would study the judgment and take appropriate steps.

“We will identify the grey areas. We will definitely appeal the tribunal ruling we only need to study the details of the judgment. I came second in the election. So, I expected the court to have declared me the winner the Zamfara scenario is relevant here ditto for the one in Kano in respect of House of Reps seat. Once a candidate is declared disqualified, the candidate who came second with lawful votes is usually declared the winner. There’s no need for a rerun here. The said election was held under a peaceful atmosphere, no rancour and it was satisfactorily concluded”, he said.