The court of appeal sitting in Akure, the
Ondo State Capital on Monday upheld the
re-election of Governor Olusegun Mimiko.
The court dismissed the petitions of the
candidates of the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)
in the October 20, 2012 governorship election,
on the basis that they lack merit.
In a unanimous judgement, the Appellate court
ruled that the appellants were unable to prove
how injections into the voters’ register affected
the governorship election result.
The PDP candidate, Olusola Oke and his ACN
counterpart, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, had in
different appeals challenged the ruling of the
Justice Andovar Kaka’an-led tribunal.
The tribunal had in its judgment struck out the
petitions of the two candidates over their
failure to prove their cases before it.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Messrs Oke and
Akeredolu approached the appellate court to
seek redress and overturn the decision of the
tribunal.
When the parties appeared before the five-man
panel last Tuesday, Mr Akeredolu’s lead
counsel, Akinlolu Olujimi had urged the court
to uphold the appeal, arguing that the tribunal
erred by dismissing the petition without
considering the merit.
In the same vein, counsel for the PDP
candidate, Nathaniel Oke had said the
Independent National Electoral Commission
(INEC) violated electoral laws on the voters’
registers hence the need for the appellate
court to grant his prayers and give him
judgment.
However, Mr Mimiko’s lead counsel, Wole
Olanipekun, in his submission, told the court
that “the appellant adumbrations had clearly
showed the futility of the appeal.”
Relying on Section 19 and 20 of the Electoral
Act 2010, he said the tribunal was right in its
judgment that the opening of the soft copy of
the voters’ register issued by INEC at its
Stakeholders Meeting on 28th September, 2012
was a pre-election matter.
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