Tribunal Dismisses AA’s Petition Against Makinde’s Victory At Poll

The governorship election petition tribunal in Oyo State has dismissed the petition of the Action Alliance (AA) and its gubernatorial candidate, Babatunde Samson Ajala against Governor Seyi Makinde’s victory at the March 18 election.

The three-man tribunal led by Justice Ejiro Emudainohwu delivered the judgement on Friday.

Other members of the tribunal who sat in Ibadan, the state capital, were Justices Baraka Wali and I. S. Galadima.

It would be recalled that Makinde was declared the winner of the gubernatorial election held on Saturday, 18th March 2023 but the Action Alliance and its candidate approached the tribunal and called for the cancellation of the election result owing to the alleged exclusion of the name of its candidate.

Counsel to AA and its candidate; Etibo Orowo King in his presentation on Friday told the tribunal that the party and its candidate have decided to discontinue the case.

He urged the tribunal to strike out the case in the interest of the state.

“My prayer is for the cancellation of the result of the election. But, further re-evaluation, we decided to discontinue the case in the interest of peace and tranquillity”.

Counsel to the governor who is the second respondent, Kunle Kalejaye (SAN) in his presentation then urged the tribunal to dismiss the case.

“The petitioner asked that the case be struck out.  We want the case to be dismissed. It is a petition that is dead on arrival,” the counsel said.

The tribunal led by Emudainohwu then dismissed the case and awarded a sum of N100,000 in favour of first respondent, the Independent National Electoral Commission, a sum of N250,000 in favour of the second respondent Governor Makinde and a sum of N250,000 in favour of the third respondent Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).