Tribunal upholds Solomon Adeola’s election as Ogun west senator

The national and state assembly election petitions tribunal in Ogun state has upheld the victory of Solomon Adeola as senator representing Ogun west district.

Dada Adeleke, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), had challenged Adeola’s victory in the February 25 election.

Adeola polled 112,887 votes to defeat Adeleke, who scored 60,189 votes in the national assembly election.

Delivering its judgement on Thursday, a three-member panel led by Kabir Gabo dismissed Adeleke’s petition for “lacking in merit”.

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

The tribunal said the petitioner’s prayer that the victory of Adeola be declared null, void and of no consequence, could not stand or be granted due to its unmeritorious nature.

Commenting on the judgement, Deji Eniseyin, Adeola’s counsel, described the verdict as a victory for democracy.

However, Festus Ogun, a counsel representing the petitioner, said the judgement would be reviewed.

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