Anxiety grips politicians in
Oyo State as the Governorship
Election Tribunal gears up to
deliver its verdict on the
petition filed by the Accord
Party governorship flag bearer in the last general elections,
former Governor Rasheed
Ladoja, against the victory of
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of the
All Progressives Congress
(APC). In this report, BISI OLADELE examines the case
and the expectations of the
two sides. AFTER six months of legal
fireworks, the Governorship
Election Petition Tribunal in Oyo
State will today deliver its
judgment on the petition filed by
the Accord Party flag bearer, Senator Rashidi Ladoja,
challenging the election of
Governor Abiola Ajimobi of the All
Progressives Congress (APC). Expectations are high in the camps
of the two leading parties, the APC
and the Accord. Since after the April 11
governorship election, the political
scene in the state has been dull;
with the two leading figures
slugging it out at the tribunal. After eight months of strenuous
political campaigns across the
state, Ladoja and his supporters
were disappointed with the
outcome of the April 11 election,
which placed the Accord Party candidate in the second position;
behind Ajimobi, who was declared
winner of the contest by the
Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC). But, as the
tribunal delivers its verdict today, Ajimobi and his supporters are a
bit optimistic that the judgment
would swing in their favour. According the result declared by
INEC, Ajimobi polled 327, 310
votes to beat Ladoja, who scored
254, 520 votes. The candidate of
Labour Party (LP), Adebayo Alao-
Akala, trailed behind in the third position with 184, 111 votes, while
the Peoples Democratic Party
(PDP) flag bearer, Sen. Teslim
Folarin, was placed fourth with 79,
019 votes. Seyi Makinde of the
Social Democratic Party (SDP) polled 54, 740 votes. Among other things, Ladoja prayed
the tribunal to declare him the
winner of the election, saying he
polled the highest number of votes
in the election. He also prayed the
tribunal to declare that Ajimobi’s election were tainted by “acts
which clearly violate and breach
various provisions of the Electoral
Act 2010 as amended including but
not limited to rigging and
manipulation of election result, unprecedented acts of violence,
thuggery, deliberate refusal to use
card reader and allocation of votes
where election did not hold. “ The Accord Party flag bearer is
also seeking the cancellation of the
election in 10 local governments.
The councils are Atiba, Atisbo,
Iseyin, Iwajowa, Kajola, Itesiwaju,
Oriire, Ogbomoso North, Ogbomoso South and Surulere.
They are also seeking the
cancellation of the same in some
wards in 11 other local
governments. Ladoja is asking the tribunal to
declare him winner of the election,
because he secured the highest
number of votes, but was
marginalized through the
irregularities in the above local governments and wards. Alternatively, the Accord candidate
is seeking for a fresh election in
the entire state in accordance with
the Electoral Act. He is being
represented by Chief Richard
Ogunwole (SAN). He joined the APC, INEC and the
Resident Electoral Commissioner
(REC), Amb. Rufus Akeju, as
respondents in the matter. Ladoja based his prayers on the
grounds that Ajimobi’s election is
invalid “by reason of corrupt
practices and or non-compliance
with the provision of Electoral Act
2010 as amended.” He posited, in the second ground that Ajimobi
“was not duly elected by majority
or highest number of lawful votes
cast at the election.” The Accord candidate tendered 200
exhibits and invited 29 witnesses to
buttress his case. But, Ajimobi and his camp are not
folding their arms, wishing that
Ladoja will fail in his bid to
invalidate the election. His lead
counsel Chief Wole Olanipekun
(SAN) has been working hard to puncture Ladoja’s claims. He called six witnesses.
Nevertheless, APC and INEC’s
counsels, Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN)
and Yusuf Ali (SAN) respectively
did not invite any witness. According to Olanipekun, the
petition has no precedent on the
point of law. The erudite lawyer
pointed out that the petitioner failed
to ask for certain relieves which he
should have sought. Olanipekun also faulted the petition
for challenging the election in
places where the Labour Party
won. He argued that the petitioner
failed to substantiate the case of
rigging and violence and urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition. He
posited that such petitions be
discouraged from being
entertained, because it lacked
substance. While adopting his own address,
Akeredolu (SAN) submitted that the
petition was vague or nebulous in
nature. He also posited that it is
absurd that the Accord flag bearer
is challenging results in local government areas where the
Labour Party (LP) won, but that it
did not deed it necessary to join
the LP in the petition. The lawyer further submitted that
there was no linkage of documents
with the petition and that petitioners
abandoned their pleading such as
ballot box stuffing and rigging. He
added that all witnesses failed to establish the claims. Akeredolu added that the star
witness confirmed that he didn’t
make use of voters’ register and
form EC8A and that this makes his
testimony null and void. He said the
Accord Party’s evidences had been destroyed while cross-examining
the witnesses. Ali (SAN) urged the tribunal to
strike out or dismiss the petition,
because it lacks merit. He argued
that the petitioner cannot use
sentiment or morality, but rather it
should be based on facts. He submitted: “When petitioner
fails to establish his case the onus
does not fall on respondent to call
witness.” Ali further argued that the mere
fact that the petitioner brought
election materials to the court
shows that there was election. The
INEC counsel posited that any
party that brings material to the court must be able to link them to
his case. He also pointed out that admission
of star witness in the person of a
farmer, rather than a professional,
punctured the qualification of the
said witness to give acceptable
evidence. He said the case should be dismissed for lacking in
substance. But the petitioners’ counsel,
Ogunwole (SAN), argued that
address of counsel could not be
substituted for good delivery but
facts. He described submissions raised
by respondents as baseless,
arguing that it was not necessary
to join the LP in the petition and
stressed that the respondents
failed to support their claims. During the proper hearing, the
tribunal ruled against an application
by the petitioner to bring in a ballot
paper/forensic expert. It ruled that
the application was filed without
first seeking the leave of court since it was to be heard after pre-
trial. The petitioners appealed the ruling,
but the appellate tribunal upheld the
ruling of the lower tribunal. Now that the stage is set for the
judgment, members of the APC are
hopeful of victory just as Accord is
also hopeful. The State Chairman of the APC,
Chief Akin Oke, said going by the
arguments and the entire hearing of
the petition, the party is not
expecting anything less than
victory. The APC chieftain said he attended all the hearing sessions
and that it was very clear that the
petitioner could not prove his
claims. He said the petitioner could not
fault INEC result and materials,
meaning that the election was
credible. He said: “Going by the entire
hearing, we expect that the APC
will coast home with victory on
Tuesday.” The Director-General of the Rashidi
Ladoja Campaign Organization,
Hon, Adeolu Adeleke, said: “The
expectation of Accord as a party is
the declaration of Sen. Rashidi
Adewolu Ladoja as the duly-elected governor in the April 11, 2015
election. More importantly, our own
grounds are almost the same with
the grounds of the APC in Rivers
State, which is largely on the issue
of Card Readers and incidence form. The only difference is while
the Rivers State Chapter requested
for cancellation of the poll, we
requested declaration of Senator
Ladoja as governor.” Today’s judgment will mark
another important milestone in the
history of politics in Oyo State.http://thenationonlineng.net/its-judgment-day-in-oyo/

issokay

Oya!

Like seriously?

Today na today

ajimodiot out

Too long Anyway....APC all d way

In as much as I wish Ladoja wins this petition,he lost it ab initio with his choice of counsel.Ogunwole (SAN) to me is not vast in election petition matters.

Today na today

There can't b any thing special. D judgements so far have always been in favour of APC.

Oya we are waiting for Result

bring it on.

bandol:
There can't b any thing special. D judgements so far have always been in favour of APC.

Why wouldn't it be in favour of the APC when it's crystal clear that Election never held in some of those places?! I guess you expected Wike to win at the tribunals? If he had won, wouldn't you have question the Judge's sanity? Why did they not rule in favour of APC in Delta State if your assertion is true?

@judgement, I believe Ajimobi was given the mandate by his people because he was tested and trusted. I never heard any case of Election irregularities or violence in Oyo State so Ladoja should be prepared to head to the Court of Appeal after today's ruling. Ajimobi was the rightful winner!

donphilopus:


Why wouldn't it be in favour of the APC when it's crystal clear that Election never held in some of those places?! I guess you expected Wike to win at the tribunals? If he had won, wouldn't you have question the Judge's sanity? Why did they not rule in favour of APC in Delta State if your assertion is true?

@judgement, I believe Ajimobi was given the mandate by his people because he was tested and trusted. I never heard any case of Election irregularities or violence in Oyo State so Ladoja should be prepared to head to the Court of Appeal after today's ruling. Ajimobi was the rightful winner!

Bro Ajimobi is not the rightful winner during election, manipulation errors occur so much at Oke Ogun, i watched so many videos how the election was manipulated, don't let me deceive you, if tribunal really good the election will be nulified.

donphilopus:


Why wouldn't it be in favour of the APC when it's crystal clear that Election never held in some of those places?! I guess you expected Wike to win at the tribunals? If he had won, wouldn't you have question the Judge's sanity? Why did they not rule in favour of APC in Delta State if your assertion is true?

@judgement, I believe Ajimobi was given the mandate by his people because he was tested and trusted. I never heard any case of Election irregularities or violence in Oyo State so Ladoja should be prepared to head to the Court of Appeal after today's ruling. Ajimobi was the rightful winner!

Bro Ajimobi is not the rightful winner during election, manipulation errors occur so much at Oke Ogun, i watched so many videos abt misue of statistics, don't let me misslead you, if they don't bribed the tribunal there will re-run of election again.

Lovelytons:
Bro Ajimobi is not the rightful winner during election, manipulation errors occur so much at Oke Ogun, i watched so many videos how the election was manipulated, don't let me deceive you, if tribunal really good the election will be nulified.

Ok. Let's just assume. Before the Tribunal would nullify any Election, they would make sure that the total number of registered voters in that area where irregularities was said to have occurred is bigger than the margin between the winner and the runner-up. According to the result I'm seeing here, Ajimobi had 327,310 votes while Ladoja had 254,520 votes, that means the margin is about 70,000. Are the registered voters in Oke Ogun more than 70,000? If NO, the Election can't be annulled.

Lovelytons:
Bro Ajimobi is not the rightful winner during election, manipulation errors occur so much at Oke Ogun, i watched so many videos how the election was manipulated, don't let me deceive you, if tribunal really good the election will be nulified.

why is he not rightful winner? some little brat immigrants residing in Oyo State talking rubbish since the time immoral. he was given the mandate by the people of Oyo State. He's the best governor Oyo State has ever had and even Ladoja himself knows

HollarWB:
why is he not rightful winner? some little brat immigrants residing in Oyo State talking rubbish since the time immoral. he was given the mandate by the people of Oyo State. He's the best governor Oyo State has ever had and even Ladoja himself knows that.

Thank you sir, but do know, if the election z really credible no way for Ajimobi....

Ajimobi won the April elections. Though fiercely contested for. Ladoja shouldn't waste his resources further on litigation. The Buhari Tsunamis gave Ajimobi and the 3 elected APC Senators leverage. I don't see a surprising verdict today.

HollarWB:
why is he not rightful winner? some little brat immigrants residing in Oyo State talking rubbish since the time immoral. he was given the mandate by the people of Oyo State. He's the best governor Oyo State has ever had and even Ladoja himself knows that.

stop talking rubbish. Who told you he is the best governor?

W3xy1:
stop talking rubbish. Who told you he is the best governor?

What's the problem with all these flat-headed gully ravaged donkeys called yeeeboes? smh

Lovelytons:
Thank you sir, but do know, if the election z really credible no way for Ajimobi....

I laff in Spanish; Ladoja himself knows; he could only try even if he decided to merge with Akala, they wouldn't trouble our Ajumobi

So, to add "state" to your thread title is a problem.