The Ekiti state election tribunal has dismissed the petition by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state challenging the outcome of the July 2018 governorship election.
The tribunal led by Suleman Belgore ruled on Monday that the allegations by the PDP in Ekiti state and its governorship candidate, Olusola Kolapa, that the APC manipulated the results were not substantiated by the evidence before the court.
But the PDP rejected the ruling of the tribunal in a statement signed by the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Kola Ologbondiyan. He said the judgment of the tribunal would be upturned at the Appeal Court.
He said;”The PDP urges all its members particularly in Ekiti state not to despair over Monday’s ruling of the Ekiti Governorship election tribunal, which sat in Abuja. The judgment of the tribunal will surely be overturned at the Court of Appeal and victory handed to the PDP and our candidate, Olusola Eleka, who is the clear winner of the July 14, 2018 Ekiti governorship elections.”
The All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Kayode Fayemi, was declared winner, after he polled 197,459 votes in the election.
In a judgment that lasted almost five hours, the tribunal gave various reasons for believing that the PDP failed woefully in proving its case of alleged electoral fraud.
Belgore pointed out that the PDP claimed it had over 900 witnesses in its petition, but ended up presenting only 71 of them.
The tribunal ruled that it was very wrong for the party to expect that the testimonies of only 71 witnesses would serve to prove allegations of electoral fraud in over 1,300 poling units
“The petitioners failed to prove that the third respondent was not duly elected by a majority of lawful votes as so declared,” the tribunal rules.
But the PDP vowing to appeal the tribunal’s ruling said with abounding evidence of rigging including violence, and other electoral malpractices perpetrated by the APC the Court of Appeal will consider the matter strictly on its merit.
“The PDP Holds that the Court of appeal will consider the matter strictly on its merit, particularly with the abounding evidence of rigging including violence, vote-buying, ballot stuffing and alteration of results perpetuated by the APC are still intact,” Ologbodiyan said.
