The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)’s Eyitayo Jegede has lost his bid to overturn the outcome of the October 20, 2020 governorship election in Ondo State.
Jegede had approached the tribunal seeking nullification of result of the election, which declared the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) Rotimi Akeredolu as winner.
In a joint suit with his party, Jegede had prayed the tribunal to overturn the election on allegations that the voting was marred by ‘pockets of violence and irregularities.’
He also alleged irregularities in the emergence of Akeredolu as the candidate of the APC during the party primaries held on July 20, 2020.
However, delivering its judgement on Tuesday, the State Election Petition Tribunal struck out the petition for lack of merit.
The verdict by the tribunal was delivered by a three-man panel led by Justice Umar Abubakar on Tuesday via Zoom as the regular venue of the panel was not open due to the strike action embarked upon by members of the Judicial Staff Union of Nigeria.
According to results announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Akeredolu won the governorship election with a total of 292,830 votes. He won in 15 of the 18 local governments.
Jegede polled 195,791 votes and won only three local governments, which were Akure South, Akure North and Ifedore.
Estranged deputy governor to Akeredolu Agbola Ajayi polled 69,127 votes to emerge third.
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