Supreme Court Reserves Judgement In PDP’s Appeal On Ogun Governorship Election

The Supreme Court led by Justice John Inyang Okoro, on Thursday, reserved judgment in the legal battle between the Governor of Ogun State, Dapo Abiodun, and his challenger in the last governorship election, Oladipupo Adebutu.

Naija News understands that Justice Okoro announced the decision after hearing arguments from both parties.

Recall that Governor Abiodun contested the last election on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform, while Adebutu ran on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

However, after the outcome of the polls, Adebutu and the PDP appealed to the Supreme Court to compel the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct fresh elections in the 99 polling units where the elections were allegedly cancelled.

The two appellants, through their lead counsel, Chief Chris Uche SAN, argued that the electoral body never denied the issue of election cancellation in the 99 polling units.

The senior lawyer maintained that Governor Abiodun and his party were prematurely, wrongfully and unlawfully declared winners of the March 18 poll when a fresh election had not been conducted in the 99 polling units.

Uche brought to the attention of the Supreme Court the election results declared by INEC, in which Governor Abiodun and APC emerged victorious with a narrow margin of only 13,000 votes.

He emphasized that the votes at the 99 polling units exceeded 40,000 votes, indicating that they could potentially alter the outcome of the election.

Uche argued that the Ogun governorship poll cannot be considered conclusive unless elections are conducted in these 99 polling units. Consequently, he implored the apex court to overturn the judgments of both the Ogun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which upheld the results of the gubernatorial election. On the other hand, INEC’s counsel, Abiodun Owonikoko, SAN, urged the Court to dismiss the appeal.

Lead counsel for the APC, Tayo Oyetibo SAN, also argued for the dismissal of the appeal based on the fact that the election had already been conclusively concluded.

Oyetibo contended that the documents presented by the appellants, which claimed that elections were cancelled in 99 polling units, were essentially worthless. He pointed out that these papers lacked a proper heading, date, and signature, and did not bear the name of any official.

The senior lawyer further asserted that these purported documents on election cancellation violated the provisions of the Electoral Act, as they did not meet the necessary conditions for admissibility.

Consequently, he urged the Supreme Court to reject these documents, just as the tribunal and the Court of Appeal had done, as they held no probative value.

The second respondent in the appeal aligned with the INEC and APC positions.

On November 24, 2023, the Appeal Court, Lagos Division, delivered a split decision affirming the re-election of Dapo Abiodun as the duly elected governor of Ogun State.

Justice Joseph Shagbaor Ikyegh, in the majority judgment, dismissed the appeal filed by the PDP and its governorship candidate, Oladipupo Adebutu.

However, Justice Jane Esienanwan Inyang, in the minority judgment, allowed the appeal and directed INEC to conduct a fresh election within 90 days.