The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the victory of Oluwarotimi Akeredolu in the governorship election in Ondo State, held in October 2020.
Akeredolu was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress.
The seven-member panel of the court ruled in favour of the governor with a split decision of four-to-three
The majority judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the majority threw out an appeal filed by Eyitayo Jegede and his party, the People’s Democratic Party, saying it lacked competence.
Justice Agim upheld an earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal, which held that tthe petition filed by Jegede and the PDP at the election tribunal was incompetent as they failed to include Yobe Governor and APC’s Caretaker Committee Chairman, Mai Mala Buni as a party.
However, in the minority judgment delivered by Justice Mary Peter-Odili, the court upheld the appeal while dismissing a cross-appeal by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), governor Akeredolu, and the APC.
Odili and the two other members of the panel held the view that since the APC, for which Buni acted, was a party in the case, there was no need to include him as a party.
