THE Ondo State Election Petition Tribunal, on Wednesday evening, dismissed the petitions filed by candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party and four other opposing political parties and upheld the results of the November 16, 2024, governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress winner of the poll, having polled a total of 366,781 votes, defeating the candidates of other parties in the poll.
Apart from the PDP, other parties which also filed petitions against the victory of Aiyedatiwa included the Social Democratic Party, the Action Alliance, the Allied Peoples’ Movement and the African Democratic Congress.
They alleged that the election was characterised by irregularities and electoral malpractices at many polling units which are non-compliant with the electoral law.
The petitioners also emphasised that the irregularities included multiple thumb printing, over-voting, and the failure of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System in various polling units across the state.
In a unanimous judgment, the three-man tribunal led by Justice Benson Ogbu, dismissed the petitions, saying they were incompetent, lacked merit, not diligent and frivolous.
Specifically, the tribunal held that the prayer in the petitions of the PDP and its candidate, Mr Agboola Ajayi, could not be granted, as the petitioners failed to discharge the burden of proof placed on them by the law.
The court also struck out the petitions for being incompetent, as the petitioners had also alleged corrupt practices and non-compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act.
The panel said the petitioners failed to adduce any credible evidence to establish the allegations and it remained unproved.
“There is no way that the tribunal would know the level of non-compliance during the election, as there were no cases of non-compliance that were impactful on the outcome of the election,” the court held.
The tribunal also dismissed Ajayi’s petition for lacking in merit and held that the candidate of the PDP “failed woefully to provide sufficient evidence to support his claims of electoral irregularities and over-voting in the election.”
The counsel for the PDP, Mr Olujimi Oluseye, said the party would study the judgment after which it would decide whether to appeal it or not.
He said, “We respect the judges, but we must not forget that it didn’t go in our favour.
“Our clients have a constitutional right to seek redress. Having said that, we are going to apply for the Certified True Copy of the judgment and we will study it.
“Part of what we may likely do is to go on appeal. But this is subject to the information we get from our clients.”
Aiyedatiwa, however, commended the tribunal for the judgment, calling on the losers to join hands with him to move the state forward.
“I give thanks to almighty God who orchestrated the journey right from the beginning and used the people of Ondo State.
“About 366,000 plus indigent residents of Ondo State decided on November 16 last year by giving us the mandate to continue to govern the state as the seventh democratically elected governor.
“That mandate that was given on that day has just been reaffirmed by the election petition tribunal,” he said.
He maintained his call for the opposition to join hands with his government and contribute to the development of the state.
“They can join us and bring the ideas they have on board so that we can work together,” Aiyedatiwa said.