By SULEIMAN SHEHU

The National Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal on Wednesday dismissed the petition filed by Joseph Tegbe, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), regarding the Oyo South Senatorial District election.

The tribunal whichh was sitting in Ibadan ruled that the victory of Sen. Sarafadeen Ali of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was in order.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Tegbe and his party had challenged Ali’s victory in the Feb. 25 election.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Ali winner after he polled 111,513 votes to defeat Tegbe who got 92,481 votes.

The petitioners had alleged that the election which produced Ali was marred by over-voting, irregularities, election malpractices and non-compliance with the Electoral Act, 2022 guidelines.

Tegbe had urged the court to declare Ali’s pronouncement as winner of the election invalid for not scoring majority of lawful votes cast in the election and order a rerun.

NAN reports that Tegbe and the PDP called 32 witnesses in defence of their petition while Ali and APC called 12 witnesses each.

INEC did not call any witness.

In a unanimous judgment read by Justice I. Okpe, a member of the three-man panel of the tribunal, the tribunal upheld Ali’s victory.

It awarded a cost of N500,000 against the petitioners in favour of the three respondents —- Ali, APC and INEC.

Okpe said the testimonies of the petitioners’ witnesses were centred on and limited to over-voting, contrary to other allegations they raised in the petition.

He added that accreditation and voter register were key to proving over-voting, adding that none of the 32 witnesses called by the petitioners relied on or mentioned the voter register.

“I have gone through the pleadings of the petitioners, voter register is not one of the documents tendered and none of their witnesses relied on the voter register or made attempts to demonstrate there was a problem with it.

“Over-voting cannot be proven in isolation. Voter register constitutes an integral part of proof of over-voting.

“The standard of proof is not minimal in an election petition matter and the onus of proof is on the petitioner,” the judge said.

Okpe further said the tribunal observed that the statements of most of the petitioners’ witnesses were mass produced and their signature almost similar.

“The petitioners have failed to place before us any cogent proof that the tribunal can rely on that there was over-voting in the Oyo South Senatorial election and that will warrant the declaration sought by Tegbe.

“The issue is therefore resolved in favour of the respondents.

“The petition is dismissed and a cost of N500,000 is awarded against the petitioners in favour of the respondents,” the tribunal said. (NAN)

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