Osun Tribunal Dismisses 5 Petitions Against PDP Lawmakers-Elect

The Osun State Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Osogbo has dismissed five petitions filed by the Action Alliance against the lawmakers-elect of the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP).

The Action Alliance, through its counsel, filed the petitions against PDP and its candidates who won Senatorial and House of Representatives seats in the February 25 General Election, on the grounds that its party was omitted from the ballot.

The five petitions were dismissed on Monday.

The petitions were against the Senator-elect for Osun Central, Bisi Fadeyi; Senator-elect for Osun East, Francis Fadahunsi; and House of Representatives member-elect for Ede North, Bamidele Salam, among others.

At the sitting on Monday, PDP’s counsel, Oyewole Jimi-Bada, moving an oral application and citing the provisions of Schedule one, paragraph 18, sub-paragraph 1 (A), said failure of the petitioners to appear for the pre-hearing trial should automatically amount to the dismissal of the petition.

Similarly, counsel to the first respondent, the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Mr Bukola Durojaye, argued that neither the petitioners, their representatives nor their counsels were in Court, which indicated that they had abandoned the case.

Similarly, one of the counsels to the PDP, Mr Kolapo Alimi, applied for an order of the Tribunal to compel the Petitioners to pay a cost of one million naira to the respondents.

In a short serial ruling on all the cases, Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice V. O Eboreime, declared that based on the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022 as amended, the petitions stood dismissed.

The judge noted that “In view of the clear provisions of Para 18 (11) (a) of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act and the Non-Compliance of Petitioners, to wit: non-appearance of the Petitioners and their counsel to obey this scheduling for pre-hearing, the case of the Petitioners is hereby dismissed.”

Justice Eboreime, however, refused the application for the award of cost and directed parties to bear their cost.