Tribunal upholds PDP Adedoyin’s victory in Oyo Assembly election

The National Assembly and State House of Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal in Ibadan on Thursday upheld the victory of Hon. Onaolapo Adedoyin of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the March 18 election in Oyo State.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Adedoyin as the winner of the election in the Ogbomoso South State Constituency ahead of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Adegoke Ayodeji.

Ayodeji and APC later approached the tribunal to nullify Adedoyin’s victory in the exercise.

He alleged that the election was marred by over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, among others.

In its judgement, the three-man panel headed by Justice Jubril Anaja dismissed the petition for lack of merit.

It Anaja, who read the judgement, held that the petitioners failed woefully to establish the allegations of over-voting and irregularities in the election.

READ ALSO: PDP, Accord, ADC members join APC in Oyo

He said: “The petitioners factored in spoiled ballot papers in determining their over-voting and no over-voting was recorded in all the polling units mentioned by the petitioners.

“The petitioners had no knowledge of what transpired at the polling units because most of the witnesses called were ward agents.

“Evidence of ward agents called by the petitioners to testify on what happened at the polling units amount to hear-say.

“The petition is hereby dismissed and a cost of N500,000 awarded against the petitioners in favour of the respondents.”

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