The Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate in the June 18 governorship election in Ekiti State, Segun Oni, yesterday lost a bid to unseat the winner of the poll, Governor Biodun Oyebanji.
The Governorship Election Petition Tribunal hearing the dispute arising from the election struck out Oni’s petition filed against Oyebanji’s emergence for lack of merit.
Oni had petitioned the tribunal following the declaration of Oyebanji of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The SDP candidate, in the petition, urged the court to declare him the authentic winner, saying he scored the highest number of lawful and valid votes.
But, delivering judgment, the Chairman of the three-member tribunal, Justice Wilfred Kpochi, affirmed Oyebanji’s victory and said INEC was in order to have declared him as the winner, as he was duly elected by the majority votes.
Justice Kpochi held that Oni and his party failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that the June 18 governorship poll was marred by vote buying and electoral malpractice.
The court held that the petitioners and his party failed to present satisfactory evidence that Governor Oyebanji and his deputy, Mrs. Monisade Afuye, were not eminently qualified to contest the June 18 poll.
On the propriety of Yobe State Governor Mai Mala Buni to hold sway as governor and chairman, APC Caretaker Committee that signed Oyebanji’s nomination form, Justice Kpochi said the tribunal lacked the jurisdictional power to entertain the case as it was a pre-election matter.
He further affirmed that it was puerile for the petitioners to base their case on the signing of a nomination letter since it was the party at the state level that decided its candidate in any election.
On the alleged discrepancies in Afuye’s academic certificates, Justice Kpochi ruled that all the certificates presented by the deputy to INEC belonged to her and they were all genuine.
He, then, dismissed the petition for lack of merit and upheld the declaration of Oyebanji by the INEC as the winner of the election, having scored the highest number of valid votes.
Oni has rejected the ruling of the tribunal.
He promised to seek justice at the Appeal Court, “to reclaim my stolen mandate.”
The SDP candidate, through his counsel, Mr. Owoseni Ajayi, said nothing would prevent the party from heading for the Appeal Court, based on the strength of its case.
However, counsel for Oyebanji and former Attorney General, Olawale Fapohunda, hailed the judgment, urging Oni to accept the tribunal’s ruling in good faith and support the governor in his quest to make Ekiti State great.
Former governor Dr. Kayode Fayemi yesterday congratulated Governor Oyebanji on his victory.
In a statement issued in Ado-Ekiti by Malam Ahmad Sajoh, his media aide, Fayemi said the victory was for all the people of Ekiti State.
He called on opposition political parties to abandon further litigations and work with the governor for the growth and development of the state.
 candidate in the June 18 governorship election in Ekiti State, Segun Oni, yesterday lost a bid to unseat){kind=link}