Mustafa Abubakar
17 July 2008
Ilorin — The Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Ilorin, Kwara State yesterday upheld the election of Governor Abubakar Bukola Saraki and declared him winner of the April 14, 2007 governorship election by striking out the consolidated petitions filed before it by the Democratic Peoples Party (DPP), Accord Party and their candidates in the election.
In a swift reaction, the governor who is the chairman of Governors' Forum told the candidates of the two political parties to remember that they belonged to PDP before and that they should come back so that they build the state together.
But both Gbenga Olawepo (DPP) and Chief Theophilus Bamigboye rejected the judgment, saying they would appeal.
The tribunal dismissed all grounds of the petitions due to lack of merit and therefore struck them out.
The five-man panel, led by Justice Muhammad Tukur Muazu Aliyu, dismissed allegations by the two parties that the election was soiled by widespread malpractices, corruption, violence, intimidation of opposition party members as well as the alleged exclusion of both the photograph and logo of the Accord Party from the ballot papers used for the election in violation of the Electoral Act 2006.
The tribunal chairman along with other members held that the petitioners failed to prove their cases beyond reasonable doubt.
Applauding the tribunal's verdict, the governor sued for peace for the good of the state and its development.
"I praise God Almighty for this. It is His doing. He made it possible. I commend the Kwara State Election Tribunal for their display of equity and justice. This is a fair judgment. I commend members of Accord Party, DPP for following the rule of law. It is a show of the process of the law.
"I extend my hand of fellowship to them. Let them come so that we build our state together. After all, they were members of PDP before.
Let them come so that we build our great party together. I commend the good people of Kwara State for standing by our side and remaining calm throughout the period the matter lasted. I feel honoured. I promise that I will carry on with the development in the state", he said.
The tribunal in its ruling insisted that the petitioners were unable to establish the polling units or wards where electoral malpractices took place and that they made general allegations, which could not be substantiated.
It also noted that the petitioners failed to meet the demand of sections 144 and 145 of the electoral ACT 2006 in proving their allegations of massive thumb printing and other alleged irregularities.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Daily Trust. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
