Ogun guber tribunal brands APM’s petition ‘lazy, deficient and shallow’, upholds Gov Abiodun’s victory

The Ogun State governorship election petition tribunal has dismissed the petition filed by Adekunle Akinlade of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM) challenging the election of Gov Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Akinlade had filed an application seeking to disqualify Governor Abiodun on the ground that he submitted false academic qualification.

The chairman of the tribunal, Justice Yusuf Halilu, in a unanimous judgement on Saturday, said that the petition lacked merit, describing it as “lazy, deficient and shallow”

The tribunal held that Akinlade and the APM failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the election was marred by irregularities.

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Justice Halilu said the petitioners erred in their burden of proof by calling only 35 witnesses out of over 1000 polling units where they alleged non-compliance with the electoral act.

The tribunal held that the petitioners’ witnesses admitted that they signed the copies of result sheets at their various units without being compelled to do so. This, he said, punctured the case of the petitioners.

Halilu ruled that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was right in declaring Abiodun winner of the election.

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