Tribunal upholds Melaye’s election

The national assembly election petitions tribunal sitting in Kogi on Monday upheld the victory of Sen. Dino Melaye of All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Kogi west senatorial district on March 28.

In his ruling, Bassey Ikpeme, chairman of the tribunal, dismissed the petition filed by Smart Adeyemi and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) “for lacking in merit”.

Adeyemi had sought five reliefs, including the nullification and withdrawal of Melaye’s certificate of return and his declaration as winner of the election.

The petitioner urged the tribunal to declare him duly elected on the grounds that there was no substantial compliance with the provisions of the electoral act 2010 as amended.

He also claimed that Melaye was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast and also not qualified to contest the election by March 28.

Adeyemi also alleged malpractices, falsification of results and fraudulent allocation of votes to APC with the connivance of INEC officials, among others.

The tribunal formulated four fundamental questions for determination in the petition and held that no credible evidence was adduced to prove substantial non-compliance with section 131 of the electoral act. 2010, as amended.

Ikpeme also held that the petitioners could not prove alleged malpractices and all criminal connotations beyond reasonable doubt and that if such existed, they substantially affected the outcome of the election.

Commenting on the alleged non-conduct of party primaries, the tribunal held that Melaye was a product of a validly conducted APC primary which took place on December 8, 2014 at Kabba Township Stadium as was witnessed by INEC, which attested to the result.

“We have no reason to doubt its authenticity; there is evidence that there was an APC primary,” he ruled.

“We, therefore, find and hold that Dino Melaye was validly and constitutionally elected in the Kogi west senatorial district election of March 28, 2015.

“The petition is hereby dismissed as lacking in merit and the parties are to bear their own costs.”

The petition was initially dismissed on June 18 on technical grounds as Adeyemi’s counsel failed to submit response to a preliminary objection filed by the respondents’ counsel.

However, the court of appeal in Abuja nullified the decision and directed that the petition be retried and given accelerated hearing and determined on the substance of the matter rather than technicalities.