The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Monday unanimously struck out the case of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Eleka Olusola, and ruled that Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress, APC, is the duly-elected governor of Ekiti State.
The PDP candidate had challenged the declaration of Gov. Kayode Fayemi as the validly elected governor.
Olusola, who recorded a total of 178,223 votes in the election, had alleged irregularities in the election won by Fayemi with a total vote count of 197,459.
The lead verdict was read by Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Suleiman Belgore.
Justice Belgore stressed that scanty evidence before it, “did not resolve presumption of regularity in favour of the petitioners”.
“Evidence of facts not pleaded goes to nothing”, the tribunal’s Chairman held.
“In fact, oral evidence of some of the witnesses called by the petitioners, strengthened the case of the Respondents.
“It is clear that the irregularities claimed in the petition cannot be sustained. We found no reason to disturb the results
“it is instructive that no single voided ballot paper was tendered before this tribunal.
“On the whole, we hold that the petitioners failed to prove the allegations on the balance of probability.”
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