There was celebration in the camp of the All Progessives Congress (APC) while for loyalists of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) , it was extreme sadness as the Election Petition Tribunal in Abeokuta, Ogun State nullified the election victory of Senator Buruji Kashamu.
The three-man tribunal headed by Justice Tobi Ebimowei also ordered a rerun in 110 polling units, where irregularities were established.
Just before Buruji’s election was nullified, the tribunal had also nullified that of the member of the House of Representatives, Aremo Adesegun Adekoya Abdel-Majid, who contested under the platform of the PDP.
Kashamu’s victory was challenged by Prince Dapo Abiodun of the APC for Ogun East Senatorial District in the last election, who wanted the tribunal to declare him winner of the election
The tribunal agreed there were irregularities, adding that Ijebu Ode local government area remained the only local government among all the local governments making up Ogun East where election results were not cancelled because the irregularities were minimal.
The tribunal said elections were cancelled in other local governments including Ijebu North, Ijebu East, Sagamu, Ikenne and Odogbolu and that evidences before the tribunal showed that 37,008 votes was declared unlawful on grounds of proven irregularities.
According to Ebimowei, “the first respondent did not score enough votes to be able to declared him winner,comparing the margin win vote to total votes of 37,008 that are invalid.
“For avoidance of doubt,we cannot cancel the whole Senatorial election because of that and the margin of win is just 5,179 votes.It is not enough to declare him winner.
“The election is a nullify in line with Section 140 (2) and 140 (3), but in this regard,we are looking at 140 (2). We hereby order fresh election in the affected polling units. We do not feel comfortable to nullify election in Ogun East Senatorial District.
“The election of the first respondent is hereby set aside as Senator representing Ogun East District and ordered that 3rd respondent conduct a fresh election into the polling units which elections have been cancelled and in doing that, must take cognisance of the lawful votes.”
The tribunal said the valid votes of 146,533 should be set aside while results from the 110 polling units in fresh election will be added to the already valid votes.
While jubilation engulfed the camp of the APC, Kashamu later said he was not sacked by the tribunal as was being reported across the country.
“Our attention has been draw to some media reports that the Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Prince Buruji Kashamu, was today sacked by the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
“We wish to say that this is not a true reflection of what transpired at the tribunal.
“Although the tribunal has said the full judgment will be made available on Monday, it could not be said to have sacked Kashamu because, according to it, after the removal of voided votes, Kashamu is still leading with 5,179 votes.
“According to the tribunal’s findings, Kashamu has 75,856 votes against Dapo Abiodun’s 70,677 votes. So how can the person leading be said to have been ‘sacked’? For who? The losing candidate? We think not.
“Besides, the rerun was ordered in 110 out of over 1,135 polling units in the senatorial district.
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“Certainly, we are going to test veracity of the tribunal’s verdict at the Court of Appeal. The tribunal has given its judgment, but it is not the end of the road. That is the beauty of the judicial process,” a statement by his media office said.
