The Appeal Court in Lagos has upheld the National Assembly Petition Tribunal’s judgment, which validated Sen. Sharafadeen Alli’s victory, representing Oyo South, as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
This is contained in a statement signed by Akeem Abas, Alli’s Special Adviser on Media, and made available to newsmen on Saturday.
Alli won the separate appeals filed by Chief Joseph Tegbe of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Funmilola Gbogbolomo of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP).
The court dismissed Tegbe’s appeal because it lacked merit, affirming the tribunal’s judgment.
In Gbogbolomo’s appeal, the court rested the entire Judgement on the sole issue we distilled by the 1st Respondent (INEC).
The court agreed with the tribunal and defendants that the case was a pre-election matter while also agreeing that the appellant did not prove non-compliance.
The judges unanimously dismissed the appeal and awarded the cost against the appellant.
Tegbe and Gbogbolomo appealed the tribunal’s judgments, which dismissed their separate petitions against Alli’s victory in the Oyo South February 25 National Assembly election.
In its judgment, the tribunal said that the evidence presented before it by the Tegbe and PDP was not credible and difficult to believe.
It said that Tegbe had failed to present cogent, reliable, and compelling evidence sufficient to affect the poll results declared by INEC.
The court dismissed the petition because it was incompetent.
While delivering the final judgment in the NNPP case, the Tribunal held that the petition was incompetent, as the grounds upon which it was premised were related to a pre-election matter that should not be brought before the Tribunal.
The tribunal in the NNPP case held that, with regard to the pleadings and evidence before the court, the petitioners also failed to rebut the presumption of regularity in the conduct of the election by INEC.
It dismissed the petition because it was incompetent and lacking in merit.
