The National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday declared Biodun Olujimi, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner of Ekiti South Senatorial district election.
The three-member tribunal led by Justice Danladi Adeck nullified the election of Senator Dayo Adeyeye, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the February 23 election.
The tribunal cancelled elections in some polling units which left Olujimi polling 54,894 votes to defeat Adeyeye, who scored 52,243 votes.
The judge said that the petitioner proved those cases of criminal allegations of non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Acts and other corrupt practices raised in her petition beyond a reasonable doubt
“In Ikere, Gbonyin and Emure local governments, the petitioner was able to prove cases of over-voting and votes in those units were expunged from the ballots.
“It is not tenable to say that marked ballots were not properly deposited in the boxes because when this did not happen, then it will lead to over voting and will affect counting at every level of collation.
“To avoid this pitfall, those elections must be expunged in order not to vitiate the electoral process. Therefore, after those votes were deducted, PDP was left with 54,894 while the respondent polled 52,243.
“The petitioner having polled the highest number of lawful votes should be declared the winner of the election. We hereby declare the petitioner the winner and he is hereby returned elected. We hereby direct the INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return from the respondent and issue same to the petitioner”, the chairman said.
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