The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ado-Ekiti at the weekend dismissed three petitions filed by the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) against the candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 23, 2019 National Assembly Elections.
The petitions were filed by Kehinde Agboola ,Nicolas Olusola Omotosho and Duro Faseyi against Peter Owolabi, Ibrahim Olanrewaju and Olubunmi Adetumbi respectively.
The grounds of petition and reliefs were the same in the three suits.
The three man panel in a unanimous judgment read by the tribunal chairman, Justice Danladi Adeck in the petition filed by Faseyi against Adetumbi, the Senator representing Ekiti North, the tribunal upheld the preliminary objection filed by the respondent and dismissed the petition.
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In a judgment that lasted for about six hours, the tribunal held that in the merit of the case the petition is liable to be dismissed, having not been proven as required by the law.
Justice Adeck ruled that ” having also failed to call witnesses from the venue of the APC primaries, the petitioner came to the tribunal empty-handed and was bound to go home empty-handed and poorer.”
The PDP and its candidates , through their counsel, Ahmed Raji SAN had petitioned the APC ,its candidates and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) claiming that the APC had no candidates for Ekiti North Senatorial District ,Ekiti North Federal Constituency One and Two ,where Adetumbi, Owolabi and Olanrewaju were declared winners respectively by INEC .
The petitioners also deposed that there were no valid candidates for APC, claiming no primaries was held by the party.
The plaintiffs also asked the court to declare that the votes accrued to the respondents are wasted votes and declare their candidates, who are first runners up as winners of the elections.
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