Appeal Court Affirms Gov Abiodun’s Election In Split Decision

The Court of Appeal setting in Lagos State has affirmed the re-election of Governor Dapo Abiodun.

The court in a split decision on Friday, affirmed Abiodun as the duly elected governor of Ogun State in the March 18, 2023 election in the state.

Justice Joseph Shagbaor Ikyegh who read the majority judgment dismissed the appeal filed by the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ladi Adebutu.

However, Justice Jane Esienanwan Inyang who delivered the minority judgment agreed with the appellant and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election within 90 days.

Adebutu is challenging Abiodun’s re-election on the ground that the Electoral Act, 2022 was not followed, citing corrupt practices and issue of non-qualification.

The PDP candidate had in October rejected the verdict of the election petitions tribunal which affirmed Abiodun as the duly elected governor of the state.

In a statement titled “Tribunal Verdict: Disheartening, Threat To Democracy But It Is Not Over”, Adebutu had stated that the judgment of the lower court was based on technicalities as it failed to consider the substantial merits and evidence tendered during the trial.

He said “This judgment which was based solely on funny technicalities failed to consider the substantial merits and evidence tendered during the trial. We firmly believe in the principles of democracy, transparency, and the rule of law. It is with these principles in mind that we entered into the legal process to seek justice for the people of Ogun State whose mandate was stolen.

“Our commitment to this course remains unwavering, and we will exhaust all available legal avenues to ensure that the will of the people is upheld, justice prevails and the mandate is retrieved.

“Regrettably, the tribunal chose to focus on mere technicalities and the use of English rather than engage in a thorough examination of the glaring evidence presented. We submitted substantial evidence that raised serious questions about the conduct of the election, even marked ballot papers and we are confident that a closer examination of this evidence would have revealed the true nature of the irregularities and discrepancies that occurred during the election.

“In the course of the trial, our legal team presented enough evidence that establishing non-compliance, voters’ harassment and intimidation leading to the disenfranchisement of over 49,000 voters which is higher than the margin of lead of 13,915 as “purportedly” declared by INEC; the ballot boxes snatching, over voting among many other electoral malpractices perpetuated by Mr Dapo Abiodun and his party, APC.

“We obtained duly Certified True Copies of documents from the electoral umpire, INEC, and paid for with official receipts to back our claims which proved all the content of our petition and justified our concerns over the election.

“We condemn unequivocally the judgement of the tribunal, consequently, we have mandated our legal team to appeal the judgement of the tribunal. We will not relent until due Justice is served. With what was displayed at the tribunal on September 30, 2023, it is worrisome that the court may no longer be the hope of a common man who may seek redress through the court shortly if not curtailed.”

INEC had declared Abiodun winner of the governorship election after polling 276,298 votes to defeat his closest rival Adebutu, who polled 262,383 votes.