S’Court Dismisses PDP, Adebutu’s Appeal Against Ogun Gov Abiodun

Alex Enumah in Abuja

A five-member panel of the apex court has dismissed the appeal filed by Oladipupo Adeniyi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the election of Dapo Abiodun as Governor of Ogun State. 

The judgment, read by Justice Tijjani Abubakar, held that the appeal was incompetent and liable for dismissal.

The apex court subsequently affirmed the majority judgment of the Court of Appeal and the Ogun Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which declared Abiodun as winner of the March 18 governorship election in Ogun State.

Adebutu had told the apex court that the case of the appellants was misconceived at the lower courts, adding that evidence were presented before the tribunal to prove that results from 99 polling units with votes of over 40,000 were cancelled.

He argued that the said 40,000 votes is far more than the margin of 13,000 votes between Abiodun and Adebutu.

He submitted that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was wrong to have gone ahead to declare results of the March 18 governorship election in the state, when the issue of cancelled votes in 99 polling units had not been resolved.

However, all the respondents citing Section 179 of the Constitution, argued that the election of a governor cannot be challenged on grounds of margin of lead.

The apex court however agreed with the respondents and dismissed the appeal for being incompetent and lacking in merit.