Ondo Tribunal Affirms Mimiko’s Re-election

Akure The Ondo State Governorship Elections Petitions Tribunal yesterday confirmed the election of  the state governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko by   dismissing the petitions filed against him. The  governorships candidates of the  Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Messrs Oluwarotimi  Akeredolu and Olusola Oke respectively, had  filed petitions against Mimiko’s victory, which was announced by the Independent National  Electoral commission after October 20, 2012 governorship election in the state The tribunal, however, dismissed the petitions of the two governorships candidates for lacking necessary ingredients and values.

The tribunal led by Justice  Andovar Kaka’an, held that the two petitioners  could not prove  beyond reasonable doubt that the election was characterised by electoral irregularities. It also ruled that the issue of inflating voters’ register was a pre-election matter because ACN and other political parties in the governorship election had been supplied with documents 30 days before the October 20, 2012 election and failed to question the credibility of voters’ register.

The tribunal also dismissed the submissions of two expert witnesses of  ACN  that over 100 illegal names were injected into the voters’ register, describing their evidence as unreliable. According to the tribunal: “The impact of an alleged insertion can, however, be countenanced by the tribunal. The impact was, however, was not linked to the respondent. The said insertion has not been proved to have benefited the first respondent.”

The tribunal stated that the  evidence of Oke’s witnesses are now being torn to shreds for being self-contradictory and hearsay, adding that the witnesses must be those who saw what happened.  “We hold that the evidence is hearsay and of no value,” the tribunal ruled. The tribunal  said that  not a single witness testified that they did not vote, despite PDP’s claim that there was no accreditation. It also ruled that there was no security report to prove that election was marred by violence, as claimed by PDP.

“Oke did not differentiate between what he heard, what he saw and what his agents told him. PW 45 cannot give evidence on all the units and wards because he was not there. The statement on oath of PW 45 is a bundle of secondary and primary hearsay,” the tribunal ruled, declaring that the election of Mimiko as governor of Ondo State was affirmed “There is no denying the fact that true hero of the battle for the enthronement   of true democracy in Ondo State are the people of the state,” the tribunal ruled.

May 04, 2013