The Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, Ondo State, on Thursday affirmed the victory of the Ondo State Governor, Mr Lucky Aiyedatiwa and his deputy, Dr Olayide Adelami, in the November 16, 2024, governorship election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission had declared Aiyedatiwa of the All Progressives Congress the winner of the poll, having polled a total of 366,781 votes, defeating the candidates of other parties in the poll.
Apart from the PDP, other parties which also filed petitions against the victory of Aiyedatiwa include the Social Democratic Party, the Action Alliance, the Allied Peoples’ Movement and the African Democratic Congress.
They challenged the victory of the governor at the state Election Petition Tribunal, alleging that the election was characterised by irregularities and electoral malpractices at many polling units, which are non-compliant with the electoral law, but the tribunal struck out their petitions, upholding the defendants’ victory.
The election debtors, not satisfied with the tribunal’s verdict, approached the appellate court to challenge the tribunal’s verdict.
In a judgement delivered on Thursday, the three-man panel of appeal court judges – Justice Nimpar Yargata, Justice K.I. Amadi and Justice I.M. Sani, unanimously struck out the appeals, one after the other, for not substantiating the claims of non-compliance with the Electoral Act.