The Court of Appeal sitting at Ringroad in Ibadan on Monday upheld the judgment of the Oyo State National and State Houses of Assembly, dismissing the petition filed against the trio of Hon. Olajide Stanley representing Ibadan Northwest/Southwest federal constituency on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Teslim Folarin, the senator representing Oyo Central at the Red Chambers on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC) and George Akintola Oluokun representing Akinyele/Lagelu federal constituency on the platform of the APC.
The court had held that the decision of the lower court was valid in dismissing the petitions against the trio for lacking merit, adding that none of the allegations raised were proved by the witnesses as they failed in their testimonies to prove that there were irregularities, electoral malpractices and non compliance with the Electoral Act 2010 as amended.
Hon Saheed Akinade Fijabi of the APC had filed a petition at the tribunal against the declaration and return of Hon. Adedeji Stanley of PDP, alleging electoral malpractices and alleging that Olajide was not duly elected by the majority of the lawful votes cast at the election but the tribunal had held were not substantial to have affected the outcome of the elections held on February 23 , 2019, for the seat of Ibadan.
Bisi Ilaka of the PDP had also filed petitions contesting the emergence of Senator Teslim Folarin of the APC on the ground that there were electoral malpractices that affected the result of the election but his application was thrown out and dismissed for lacking merit.
Kunle Yussuf of the PDP had also in his petition against Akintola Oluokun of the APC alleged electoral malpractices, irregularities, inflation of votes and non-compliance with the Electoral act 2010 as amended but had also lost the case, asking for an order declaring him the winner in asking for a fresh election is conducted.
Dissatisfied with the ruling of the tribunal, the trio had filed applications contesting the judgment before the Appellate Court, Ibadan Judicial Division. However, they all lost their bids as the court held that there were no averments to prove that the respondents ordered the alteration of results nor did any witness plead that the results were filtered.
The court further held that there was no evidence presented in court to prove that the alleged malpractices were enough to affect election results or to evaluate the allegations pleaded.
The court finally held that it finds the decision of the lower tribunal valid, adding that, “you cannot tender documents you didn’t prepare and cannot competently answer questions on its validity to prove your allegations.
“Pleadings aren’t human; they need human beings to give them life as they have no mouth and only speak through witnesses. If witnesses don’t explain and prove the allegations, such allegation is moribund,” the court held.
The court upheld the decision of the tribunal and dismissed the matter as most witnesses only related hearsays and did not prove allegations in the disputed wards
Credit: Nigerian Tribune
