The Justice C.U Anwuka-led three-man tribunal rejected the petition challenging the victory of Gbajabiamila and his party, the All Progressives Congress in the said election.
Gbajabiamila, who is now the Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, had been declared winner of the said election by the Independent National Electoral Commission after polling 21, 715 votes.
The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, Tony Ashikodi, who polled 14, 550 votes to emerge the first runner-up, had however headed for the tribunal to challenge Gbajabiamila’s victory.
Ashikodi had alleged irregularities and a breach of the guidelines set out by the INEC for the conduct of the election.
He claimed that Gbajabiamila and his party did not score the highest number of valid votes in the election and should not have been declared winner by INEC.
He also claimed that the number of votes cast exceeded the number of registered voters.
The petitioner’s lawyer, Kalu Onuah, urged the court to declare the election null and void in the circumstance as stipulated by Section 53(2) Electoral Act, 2010.
But the tribunal on Friday held that the petitioner failed to prove his case beyond reasonable doubt, holding that the evidence adduced were not sufficient to establish the allegations raised.
The tribunal held that the petitioner did not link any of the documents tendered with his allegation of irregularities that he had raised.
The panel rejected Ashikodi’s testimony that there were multiple irregularities when he was not personally present at the collation centre.
Gbajabiamila’s counsel, Dele Adeogun, had urged the tribunal to dismiss the petitioner’s case, saying the petitioner’s counsel misrepresented facts and misconceived the law.
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