Oyo tribunal dismisses petition challenging Makinde’s victory

The Allied Peoples’ Movement’s lawsuit challenging the election victory of Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State on March 18 was dismissed by the Governorship Election lawsuit Tribunal in Ibadan on Thursday.

The Independent National Electoral Commission’s announcement of Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party as the victor after receiving 563,756 votes had been contested by the APM.

According to reports, INEC and PDP are included as other respondents in the case.

The tribunal dismissed the case and granted N1 million each as costs in favour of Makinde and PDP against APM in its unanimous decision, which was read by the tribunal’s chairman, Justice Ejiron Emudainohwo.

Emudainohwo called the petition ridiculous and criticised the party for filing it 46 days after learning that their candidate had no interest in it.

She argued that the petitioner should be charged with costs for squandering the resources and time used by the respondents to complete their processes as well as the time of the tribunal.

According to Emudainohwo, the petitioner would be discouraged if they were had to pay the costs.

APM’s attorney, Mr. Henry Bello, had earlier informed the tribunal that he had asked for the petition against Makinde to be withdrawn.

Bello claimed Mr. Adeniran Oluwaseyi, the party’s candidate and the intended recipient of the petition, had lost faith in it and instead had congratulated Makinde.

He asked the court to dismiss the petition because the petitioner (the party) has no one to fill the post even if their request had been granted.

The suit, according to Bello, was filed because several polling places in the state’s March 18 governorship election failed to record the party’s votes.

He urged the court not to award any cost against the petitioner because they have committed resources in filing and prosecuting the petition.

“Withdrawing the petition is not because the petitioner is not willing to prosecute the matter, but it is as a result of the attitude of the party’s candidate who is not a party in the matter.”

Bello added that the conduct of the petitioner and its candidate was worthy of sympathy and commendation, urging the tribunal not to award any cost against the petitioner.

In his response, the INEC counsel, Mr Kizito Duru, said he was not opposed to the petition and would also not be asking for cost.

In his reaction, PDP’s counsel, Mr Isiaka Olagunju, said he was not opposed to the petition’s withdrawal and urged the tribunal to award a cost of N2 million against the petitioner.

Olagunju said his client was entitled to the cost because issues had been joined, pleadings completed, pre-hearing completed and their intention was to commence hearing when they received the withdrawal application.

He urged the tribunal to award the cost against the petitioner for wasting the time of both the tribunal and the respondents.

On his part, Makinde’s counsel, Mr Kunle Kalejaye, said he also got the withdrawal application the day the matter was slated for hearing but he was not opposed to it.

Kalejaye said the petition ought not to have been filed by the petitioner who scored 303 votes in the election against his client who polled 563,756 votes.

He urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition and award a punitive cost of N10 million against the petitioner to serve as a deterrent to others.