CANDIDATE of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Eyitayo Jegede has lost his bid to nullify the election that returned the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Rotimi Akeredolu as governor of Ondo State during the 2020 gubernatorial elections.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court dismissed his appeal against Akeredolu in a majority judgment on Wednesday for lack of merit.
In the majority judgment, four of the apex court justices upheld the decision of the court of appeal and the Ondo State Governorship Election Petition.
However, Justices Mary Odili, Tijjani Abubakar, and Ejembi Eko held that the appeal should be allowed in a dissenting judgment.
In a joint suit with his party, Jegede had prayed the court 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.
According to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) results, 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: Akure South, Akure North, and Ifedore.
Estranged deputy governor to Akeredolu, Agbola Ajayi, polled 69,127 votes to emerge third.
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