Supreme Court upholds Akeredolu’s election victory

The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the victory of Rotimi Akeredolu in the last governorship election in Ondo state.

Akeredolu’s victory was upheld in majority judgment delivered by four of the seven-member panel.

They dismissed the appeal by Eyitayo Jegede and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), on the grounds that it was incompetent.

Three other justices disagreed with the majority judgement, insisting that Akeredolu’s candidacy in the election is a nullity.

The minority judgement was of the view that the appeal has merit and should not have been struck out by the appeal court.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Akeredolu as the winner of the October 10, 2020 governorship election, having polled a total of 292,830 votes to defeat Jegede, who secured 195,791 votes.

Jegede had approached the tribunal to challenge Akeredolu’s reelection.

The PDP candidate had told the tribunal that the election was marred by “irregularities, violence and intimidation of eligible voters”.

He also submitted that Akeredolu and Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the deputy governorship candidate, were not duly nominated by their party — the All Progressives Congress (APC).

But in a judgment delivered on April 20, the tribunal dismissed Jegede’s petition.

Consequently, the former governorship candidate went before the court of appeal.

But delivering the lead judgment, Theresa Orji-Abadua, appeal court justice, dismissed the appeal for lacking merit.