Daily Independent (Lagos)
Gbenga Faturoti And Oladele Ogunsola (ibadan)
1 December 2008
osogbo — Hearing resumes today in the disagreement over the Governorship elections in Osun, Oyo, and Ekiti States, with Appeal Court sessions holding in Ibadan and Ilorin.
In Ilorin, the court will hear the challenge of Kayode Fayemi of the Action Congress (AC) against the election of Ekiti State Governor, Segun Oni, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Fayemi argues that the election on April 14 last year was fraught with violence and widespread malpractices and that he, not Oni, should be declared Governor.
The court in Ibadan will hear the argument of AC candidate in Osun State, Rauf Aregbesola, against the victory of Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the PDP.
Aregbesola appealed against the judgment of the tribunal which dismissed his claims that he was the duly elected candidate in the ballot.
He said Oyinlola was not elected by the majority of votes cast and does not satisfy the provisions of the Constitution.
He complained of miscarriage of justice and wrongful exclusion, as well as rejection of vital evidence adduced by him at the tribunal.
Aregbsola said the tribunal erred in law to deliver the judgment on July 15 when a motion had been raised against doing so because of the secret conversation between one of Oyinlola's lawyers, Kunle Kalejaiye, and a member of the tribunal, as reported by The News Magazine.
The Court of Appeal in Ibadan will also hear the appeal brought by the Governorship candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) in Oyo State, Isiaka Abiola Ajimobi, against the ruling of the tribunal which upheld the election of Governor Adebayo Alao-Akala.
It will equally hear the cross appeal filed by Alao-Akala, a member of the PDP, who is challenging the minority verdict of the tribunal which nullified the result of the election in all the councils in Ogbomoso.
In the ruling delivered on March 17, the majority judgment read by Justice Teni Yusuf gave Alao-Akala victory; the minority judgment ordered a fresh poll in Ogbomoso councils.
Teni-Yusuf said when unlawful votes were deducted from the votes cast for Alao-Akala and Ajimobi there was no substantial difference from the result.
But the minority verdict argued that a fresh election must be conducted in the areas in dispute because there was a substantial non-compliance with the Electoral Law, as unlawful votes were counted for Alao-Akala.
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