PDP Wins As Appeal Court Upturns Tribunal’s Verdict

Akure on Tuesday upturned the
judgment delivered by the Ondo
state election petitions tribunal
which nullified the election of
Kolade Akinjo, a member of the
House of Representatives
representing Ilaje/Ese Odo federal
constituency.

The tribunal had nullified Akinjo’s
election on October 6, on the grounds
that he was ineligible to contest in the
polls.
Kolade Akinjo
Delivering its judgment on Tuesday,
November 24, the Appeal Court,
presided over by Justice Abiyiri
Shehu, faulted the tribunal judgment,
for ruling that Akinjo was not a
member of the PDP at the time of the
election because his membership
card was not signed by his ward
chairman and secretary, The Punch
reports.
The 3-man panel led by Justice Shehu
noted that Akinjo’s challenger, Lucky
Aiyedatiwa, the All Progressives
Congress candidate in the election
would have presented a good case if
he had presented another card to
show that Akinjo’s card was fake and
not credible enough to attest to his
membership of the PDP before the
March 28 National Assembly
election.
The court therefore upheld Akinjo as
the duly elected representative of the
constituency in the lower legislative
chamber but awarded no cost of
damages for the respondents.
Recall that the election tribunal had
ruled that Akinjo was not a member
of the PDP
at the time of the election because his
membership card was not signed by
his ward chairman and secretary.
The tribunal had ordered the
Independent National Electoral
Commission to conduct a fresh poll in
the constituency.
Akinjo had filed an appeal
challenging the verdict of the
tribunal