The Ogun State governorship election petition tribunal has dismissed as incompetent, the petition brought forth by the PDP governorship flag bearer, Ladi Adebutu, because it stated that INEC purportedly declared Prince Dapo Abiodun as the winner of the 18 March 2023 governorship election.
The petition contested the legitimacy of the results declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in March as the outcome of the polls against the incumbent governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun.
On Saturday, 30 September 2023, the tribunal concluded that
Mr Adebutu’s petition was fatally flawed on the grounds of incompetence hinged
upon the fact that the petitioner’s case did not directly address the election
results as officially declared by INEC. Rather, Mr Adebutu’s petition had
insinuated that the results were “purported,” which, in essence, suggested that
he might have come before the tribunal to argue based on mere rumours rather
than established facts.
In its ruling, the tribunal asserted, “Petitioners have a
duty, as outlined in the Schedule, to plead the election results as officially
announced. Regrettably, the petitioners failed to fulfil this duty. Instead,
they used the word ‘purportedly’ when describing the election results, a term
that, according to the dictionary, implies unverified rumours. Therefore, the
court finds that the petitioners should have challenged the officially
announced results, not unsubstantiated rumours.”
Consequently, the tribunal arrived at a decision, deeming
the petition as legally incompetent due to this fundamental flaw. The
tribunal’s decision may have underscored the significance of adhering to
procedural norms in election petitions, emphasizing that claims must be based
on credible and officially recognized election results it could also mean to
some analysts, a miscarriage of Justice unreasonably hinged on a ridiculous
technicality as it was clear that the figures were in fact INEC’s figures.
This particular aspect of Mr Adebutu’s petition, which
centred on alleged irregularities such as cancelled votes, fake ballot papers,
overvoting, and the failure to utilize the Biometric Verification
Authentication System (BVAS), was relegated to the periphery by the tribunal.
Instead, the tribunal’s focus primarily honed in on the use of the term
“purportedly” by the petitioner when addressing the election results.
The implications of this ruling are far-reaching. INEC
declared that Mr Abiodun won the election polling 276,298 votes against Mr
Adebutu’s 262,383. At the time of the announcement, the margin of lead was less
than the number of voters who could not cast their votes due to violence and
other factors. In cases like this, the number of voters left out could
significantly affect the results of the election had they voted, the law
requires that the election be declared inconclusive and supplementary elections
held.
The solid ground upon which Mr Adebutu built his petition,
according to the court, will no longer matter because the legal team referred
to the figures as “purported.”
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