Tribunal: Segun Oni, Ekiti Governor-Elect Begin Legal Battle Tuesday

The Ekiti State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal  has announced that it will hold its inaugural sitting on Tuesday.

The tribunal secretary, Umar Abubakar, announced in a statement issued on Monday that the  sitting would commence at Ekiti State High Court Ado-Ekiti at 9.00am.

With this, the legal battle is expected to start and the legal fireworks may drag to the Supreme Court which is the terminal point for the case and whoever is declared the winner there stands.

The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Segun Oni, who came second in the election had dragged the winner and governor-elect, Abiodun Oyebanji, of the All Progressives Congress to the tribunal.

Oyebanji, who scored 187,057 votes was declared winner of the poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission and Oni came second with 82,209 votes, while the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Bisi Kolawole, came third.

Oni had said in his petition before the tribunal that he scored the highest number of valid votes cast at the poll and he should be declared the winner and return elected instead of the APC candidate.

Oni submitted a 1095-page petition to the tribunal.

But the day Oni filed the petition to challenge the election result in court was the same day the PDP candidate, Kolawole declared his support for the winner of the contest.
He made the declaration when Oyebanji paid him a visit at his residence in Ado Ekiti.

The PDP candidate said, “Being from different political parties should not disturb us from working together. This is all about Ekiti and Ekiti is bigger than any political party.

“We need to let our people know that party differences shouldn’t translate to enmity.”