Legal challenges to Ekiti gubernatorial election end after Supreme Court rules in favour of APC

LEGAL challenges to the Ekiti State gubernatorial elections that took place on June 18 last year have come to an end after the Supreme Court unanimously upheld all previous judgements on the matter recognising Governor Biodun Oyebanji as duly elected.

Following the elections, Mr Oyebanji, 54, who served as the secretary to the Ekiti State government between October 2018 and December 2021 and is a native of Ikogosi-Ekiti, was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec). He scored 187,057 votes, giving him a 30% margin victory over his closest challenger Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

However, Mr Oni challenged the verdict in court and last Thursday, the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the decisions of both the election tribunal and the Court of Appeal, which had earlier confirmed the election of Governor Oyebanji as duly elected. Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad, who delivered the judgment on behalf of other Supreme Court Justices, ruled that Mr Oni and his party failed to prove their case.

Praising the judgment, the APC said the back-to-back legal victories recorded from the numerous courts  was not accidental but a confirmation of the people’s acceptance of both the party and the governor. According to the party, this culminated in the landslide victory recorded at the poll and cannot be taken for granted at any point of the present administration.

Segun Dipe, the publicity secretary of the Ekiti8 State chapter of the APC, described Mr Oni and the SDP’s decision to question the outcome of the election as that which stood logic in its head. He observed that the legal victory was an evidence enough that Segun Oni and his party had selfishly embarked on a fruitless legal misadventure with the intention to set Ekiti State backward and burning.

Mr Dipe added: “The whole world can now see that the June 18, 2022 election was no fluke. We were the best party, we had the best candidate in Governor Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji and we ran the best campaign, based on concrete achievements of the then administration of Dr John Kayode Fayemi.

"Add to this the fact that every Ekiti son and daughter was tired of the policy summersaults of the past and chose to give continuity a try, instead of gambling with the fate of the burgeoning state, then one would understand why the result would not have been anything otherwise. The APC is the only living party in Ekiti today and the one with a pact with the people."

Meanwhile, the party said it was extending the arm of fellowship to all those who were disgruntled and is asking them to join hands with the administration of Governor Oyebanji in moving Ekiti State to the next level. According to Mr Dipe, the victory of the APC at the national level means Ekiti remains connected to the national grid and as such will not be denied any opportunity to improve the lives of the people.