Tribunal affirms Adeola as Ogun West senator

The National and State Assemblies Elections Petition Tribunal in Abeokuta on Thursday affirmed Solomon Adeola as the duly elected senator for Ogun West District in the 25 February National Assembly election.

Delivering its judgement in a petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senatorial candidate, Dada Adeleke, the Justice Kabir Gabo-led three-man panel dismissed Mr Adeleke’s petition for lacking in merit.

The panel also held that two witnesses called by the petitioner failed to give valid evidence to substantiate the allegations of the election not meeting the Electoral Act and constitutional requirements as well as manual voting procedure.

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According to the panel, the prayer of the petitioner that the victory of Mr Adeola be declared null, void and of no consequence, could not stand or be granted due to it not being meritorious.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Mr Adeola polled 112,887 votes to defeat Mr Adeleke, who scored 60,189 in the election.

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Reacting, Mr Adeola’s counsel, Deji Eniseyin, described the verdict as victory for democracy and a confirmation of the position of the law on the matter.

But, Festus Ogun, one of the counsels representing the petitioner, said they would review the judgement and advise their client, accordingly.

“We will review the judgement and advise our client on the next course of action,” he said.

(NAN)