The Oyo State National and State House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal has sacked the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker representing Irepo/Olorunsogo state constituency, Hon. Kazeem Olayanju.
The tribunal ordered that the petitioner, who was the All Progressive Congress (APC) candidate, Mustapha Ajibola Azeez, be sworn in as the winner.
Azeez had challenged the declaration of Olayanju as the winner of the March 9 election by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC).
Delivering the judgment which lasted for three and a half hours, the three-man panel led by Justice Anthony Akpovi, unanimously agreed that the declaration of the PDP candidate as winner of the election was wrong, while upholding the petition of the APC candidate seeking for a declaration that he won the poll.
The tribunal further averred that INEC erred in returning the PDP candidate as the winner of the election, noting that the petitioner succeeded in proving his case beyond a reasonable doubt that the respondent did not win the election.
Justice Akpovi said the allegations by the petitioner had merit, especially with regard to the cancelation of results in Ward 3, which it declared wrongful on the part of the electoral umpire.
Recall that PDP won 28 out of the 34 seats in the House of Assembly while the APC won five seats and the Action Democratic Party (ADP) had one seat.
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