GOVERNOR Olusegun Mimiko’s October 20, 2012 election in Ondo State got further validation on Monday as a Court of Appeals sitting in the state’s capital city of Akure upheld the results of the election.
The court ruled that the appellants were unable to prove how the voters’ register was tampered with such that it influenced the outcome of the election.
The unanimous judgment followed a petition filed by the candidates of Action Congress of Nigeria, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Olusola Oke, who had both approached the court to challenge the ruling of the electoral tribunal, as chaired by Justice Andovar Kaka’an.
The tribunal had struck out the petitions of the two candidates over their failure to prove their cases before it.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, the duo of Oke and Akeredolu respectively approached the appellate court to seek redress and overturn the decision of the tribunal.
When the parties appeared before the five-man panel last Tuesday, Mr Akeredolu’s lead counsel, Akinlolu Olujimi had urged the court to uphold the appeal, arguing that the tribunal erred by dismissing the petition without considering the merit.
In the same vein, counsel for the PDP candidate, Nathaniel Oke had said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) violated electoral laws on the voters’ registers hence the need for the appellate court to grant his prayers and give him judgment.
However, Mr Mimiko’s lead counsel, Wole Olanipekun, in his submission, told the court that “the appellant adumbrations had clearly showed the futility of the appeal.”
Relying on Section 19 and 20 of the Electoral Act 2010, he said the tribunal was right in its judgment that the opening of the soft copy of the voters’ register issued by INEC at its Stakeholders Meeting on 28th September, 2012 was a pre-election matter.