By Kamil Opeyemi
The National and State Assemblies Elections Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abeokuta on Thursday affirmed the victory of Sen. Solomon Adeola as the duly elected Senator for Ogun West Senatorial District in Feb. 25 National Assembly election.
Delivering its judgement in a Petition marked EPT/OG/Sen/2023 and filed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Senatorial Candidate, Dada Adeleke, Justice Kabir Gabo-led three-man panel dismissed Adeleke’s petition for ‘lacking in merit.
The panel also held that two witnesses called by the petitioner failed to give valid evidence to substantiate the allegations of the election not meeting electoral act and constitutional requirements as well as manual voting procedure.
According to the panel, the prayer of the petitioner that the victory of Adeola be declared null, void and of no consequence, could not stand or be granted due to its unmeritorious nature.
Adeola polled 112,887 votes to defeat Adeleke, who scored 60,189 in the Feb. 25 National Assembly election.
Reacting, Adeola’s counsel, Deji Eniseyin described the verdict as victory for democracy and a confirmation of the position of the law on the matter.
But, Festus Ogun, one of the counsel representing the petitioner, said they would review the judgement and advise their client, accordingly.
“We will review the judgement and advise our client on the next course of action,” he said.