BREAKING: Appeal Court Sacks Senator Who ‘Destroyed’ PDP In Ekiti State

The Kaduna Division of the Court of Appeal has sacked the Senate Spokesman, Dayo Adeyeye.

Adeyeye represents Ekiti South Senatorial District under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

The court in a judgment delivered on Wednesday upheld the election of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Abiodun Olujimi earlier declared winner by National/State Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in the February 23 general election.

Adeyeye was one of the prominent politicians in Ekiti who decamped from the PDP in May 2018 after disagreement with ex Governor Ayodele Fayose.

Adeyeye’s decision to dump PDP followed his defeat at the party’s primary allegedly manipulated to favour the emergence of Fayose’s deputy, Kolapo Olusola.

The former minister of state for works had promised at the time to sabotage the succession plan of Fayose to “rescue” the state.

Recall that the appellate court in Ado-Ekiti had on October 26 reserved judgment in the appeal filed by Adeyeye challenging his sack as the lawmaker representing the senatorial district by the lower court.

Presiding judge, Justice Uzor-Amaka Anyanwu reserved judgment in the appeal and said parties in the case would be informed of the date for judgment when fixed through their lawyers.

Counsel to the appellant, Dayo Akinlaja, while giving his final address argued that the tribunal was wrong in declaring Olujimi winner of the February 23rd poll. He noted that the report of an inspection of election materials of which the tribunal based his decision on was not included as part of the original prayers of the petitioner at the time.

Counsel to Olujimi and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Wahab Egbewole maintained that the report labeled as exhibit 385 was submissive since all parties involved in the case were present at the inspection. The tribunal had on September 10, sacked the chairman Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs and ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return from Adeyeye and issue fresh one to Olujimi.

The three-man tribunal led by Justice Danladi Adeck said the petitioner was able to prove beyond reasonable doubts cases of irregularities in Ikere, Gbonyin and Emure local government areas.

Adeck added that apart from the nullification in some units, the outcome of the tribunal’s verdict was predicated on the recount of the ballots by the contending forces as granted by the court. Eventually, Olujimi polled a total of 54,894 to emerge victorious over Adeyeye who scored 52,243.

Olujimi joined the PDP and was appointed Special Assistant to the Governor of Ekiti in 2003

Afterwards she elected to the House of Representatives. She became the Deputy Governor of Ekiti State with Fayose in 2005. In 2015, she contested for a Senatorial seat and won, and became a senator representing the Ekiti South constituency in the National Assembly under the PDP. She was at the time senate minority leader.