The Ogun State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta has thrown out a petition seeking to annul the election of Olakunle Oluomo, the Speaker of the Ogun State House of Assembly.
The tribunal on Monday affirmed Oluomo as the duly elected member representing Ifo State Constituency I. The three-member panel, in a unanimous decision, dismissed the petition filed by Yusuf Ogundele, son of the chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, Sikirulahi Ogundele.
The PDP candidate had asked the tribunal to declare him the winner of the March 18 election on the ground that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) returned Oluomo despite not being duly elected by the majority votes.
Ogundele said the election of Oluomo of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was not in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act 2022.
But the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Samuel Ayiwulu, said in a lead judgement that the petitioners failed to bring eyewitnesses to court to prove the case of non-accreditation, over-voting, inflation of votes, and other irregularities alleged in the petition.
The tribunal ruled that the two witnesses presented by the PDP candidate were not competent, saying they lacked probative value on the matter.
Therefore, the petition was dismissed for lacking merit.
