THE Court of Appeal, Lagos, has upheld the elections of Dapo Abiodun and Sheriff Oborevwori as the duly elected governors of Ogun and Delta states.
On Friday, November 24, the court declared Abiodun the March 18 governorship election winner in a split – two-to-one – decision.
In the majority judgment delivered by Joseph Ikyegh, the appellate court rejected the appeal filed by Ladi Adebutu, the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate.
However, the minority judgment delivered by Ane Inyang upheld the appeal and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a fresh election in the state within 90 days.
The INEC had declared Abiodun – the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) – the poll winner.
Abiodun got 13,915 votes to extend his tenure as the state governor for a second and term of four years.
Declaring Abiodun winner, the Returning Officer for Ogun State governorship poll Kayode Oyebode Adebowale, who is Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, said the governor polled 276,298 to edge PDP’s Adebutu who scored 262,383 votes.
Similarly, in a unanimous judgment, The Court of Appeal affirmed the election of Oborevwori of the PDP as the winner of the March 18 poll in Delta state.
The appellate court denied the appeal filed by Ovie Omo-Agege of the APC.
The appeal was deemed to have no merit by the court.
On September 29, the Delta state governorship election petition tribunal in Asaba affirmed Oborevwori’s victory in the governorship election held on March 18.
Omo-Agege, unsatisfied, appealed the tribunal’s ruling at the appellate court.
A reporter with the ICIR
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