Tribunal dismisses PDP’s petition against Senator Adetumbi , two Reps members

The National Assembly Petition Tribunal sitting in Ado-Ekiti,
Ekiti State capital has dismissed three case filed by the
candidates of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the
election of three candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC)
in the 2019 general election.

The petition were filed by Kehinde Agboola, Nicolas Olusola
Omotosho and Duro Faseyi against Peter Owolabi, Ibrahim Olanrewaju
and Olubunmi Adetumbi respectively.

Hon. Justice D.D Adeck, a member of the three -man panel of the
tribunal, who read the unanimous judgment on Saturday in a petition
filed by Faseyi against Adetumbi, said the case lack merit.

Justice Adeck also said that the petitioner, Faseyi failed to
prove beyond reasonable doubt as required by the law.

He, however, upheld the preliminary objection filed by the
respondent and dismissed the petition, saying the petitioner failed
to call witnesses from the venue of the APC primaries.

Other members of the panel are Justice CN Mbanu Nwenyi and
Justice Khadi MS Abubakar delivered judgment on Agboola and
Olarenwaju’s petitions respectively .

The PDP and its candidates, through their counsel, Ahmed Raji
SAN had petitioned the APC ,its candidates and the Independent
National Electoral Commission (INEC) claiming that the APC had no
candidates for Ekiti North Senatorial District, Ekiti North Federal
Constituency I and II, where Senator Olubunmi Adetumbi ,Peter
Owolabi and Ibrahim Olanrewaju were declared winners respectively
by INEC .

Chief Rafiu Balogun and Kabiru Akingbolu were the counsels to
the Second Respondents (Candidates ) and First Respondent (APC) in
the matter .

While the APC was the first respondent in the petition, the
candidates and INEC were second and third respondents respectively
.The grounds of petition and reliefs were the same in the three
suits .

The petitioners also deposed that there was no valid candidates
for APC since no primaries was held by the first respondent (APC)
and the nomination of the second respondents (candidates) was null
and void.

The plaintiffs also asked the court to declare that the votes
accrued to the respondents are wasted votes and declare their
candidates as winners of the elections .

But the Lead Counsel to the respondents Chief Balogun in his
defense argued the claim by the petitioners that the APC did not
conduct primaries amount to hearsay since the witness called by the
petitioner testified that he only saw some protesters alleging that
there was no election.

He also argued that the purported INEC’s report on APC Primaries
had no value stressing that the document told lies against itself,
since it was signed a day before the official declaration of the
results by the electoral umpire .

“We also argued that the tribunal lacks the loco standi to
entertain the petition since it is a preelection matter and only
the aspirant who participated in the primaries can challenge the
process in line with Section 87 sub 1 of the Electoral Act 2010 as
amended”

And that the petitions were statue barred since they were not
filed within 14 days after the primaries as stipulated by the
law.

According the to him, the APC Primaries were held on October
5,2019 while the results were declared by INEC on October 6 but the
petitions were filed on November 6, .

Counsel to the respondent also argued that the court have no
loco standi to hear the case since it was a preelection matter
which only state, federal High Court could handle.