The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate in Ekiti State, Kolapo Olusola-Eleka, challenging the election of Governor Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The election was held on July 14, 2018.
On Friday, a five-man panel of the Supreme Court led by the Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad unanimously held that the appeal challenging the outcome of the poll lacked merit.
Justice John Okoro, who read the decision, upheld the judgments of both the Ekiti State Election Petition Tribunal and the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Fayemi and the All Progressives Congress polled a total of 197,459 votes to defeated Olusola-Eleka and the PDP who placed second with 178,121.
PDP and Eleka had insisted that election was marred by a lot of wrongs including non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
But the tribunal on January 28, 2019, dismissed their petition and affirmed the results declared by INEC.
The petitioners further appealed to the Court of Appeal, where Justice Stephen Adah dismissed the case for lacking in merit, a decision agreed by other members of the panel – Justices Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson and Emmanuel Agim.
