The senator representing Ekiti South Senatorial District, Dayo Adeyeye, has filed a 19-ground appeal against the judgment of the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal which declared his opponent, Senator Biodun Olujimi, as winner.
The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) is seeking to upturn the verdict of the Tribunal that ordered his removal and subsequent replacement with Olujimi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Adeyeye has also assembled a team of lawyers led by Mr. Dayo Akinlaja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).
In the Notice of Appeal filed at the Ado-Ekiti Division of the Court of Appeal, the Chairman of Senate Committee on Media and Public Affairs is seeking two reliefs in his bid to upturn Olujimi’s victory at the Tribunal.
Adeyeye prayed the appellate court “to allow the appeal and set aside the declaration and return of Olujimi”.
The Senate spokesman urged the Court of Appeal to affirm his declaration and return by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the senatorial poll held in the district on February 23, 2019.
Respondents in the appeal are: Olujimi (1st), PDP (2nd), INEC (3rd) and APC (4th) as the Appellant is challenging the whole decision of the Tribunal.
One of the errors in law of the Tribunal, according to Adeyeye, was its acknowledgment that the report of the inspection of ballot papers came about after the filing of the petition.
He also claimed that the Petitioners/Respondents did not tender any ballot paper at the trial and failed to give evidence to show how the alleged alterations and mutilations of the result sheets prejudiced or affected the results of the election, among others.
Leading a three-member panel, Justice D.D. Adeck had, on September 10, 2019, ordered INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return given to Adeyeye and issue a fresh one to Olujimi.
The panel upheld Olujimi’s averments that there was no proper accreditation and proper account of ballots, and that the number of votes or ballots recorded is more or less than the number of accredited voters, among others.
After the Tribunal deducted votes from what the two parties scored at the election, PDP had 54,894 and APC was credited with 52,243.