The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal filed by the Peoples
Democratic Party's governorship candidate in Osun State, Iyiola Omisore,
challenging the Court of Appeal’s judgment which affirmed Rauf
Aregbesola’s election victory in Osun.
Aregbesola, the candidate of the All Peoples Conress in the election held on August 9, 2014, was declared the winner.
Omisore was however dissatisfied and lodged a petition at the Election Petition Tribunal, and lost.
He appealed against the tribunal’s judgement at the Appeal Court but lost again as the court upheld the tribunal verdict.
Not satisfied, Omisore went to the Supreme Court to set aside the
Appeal Court’s judgement, claiming that there was miscarriage of justice
in the process.
However, the apex court’s panel of seven
justices, in its judgement read by Justice Chima Nweze, held that
Omisore’s appeal lacked merit and dismissed it entirely.
In
the unanimous judgment, the court also upheld the concurrent decisions
of the Court of Appeal, Akure Division, and the Osun Election Petition
Tribunal, which had earlier affirmed Aregbesola’s election
Affirming the concurrent decisions of the Court of Appeal and the
Election Petition Tribunal, the panel held: “There being no merit in
the appeal, it is hereby ordered that the main appeal and cross-appeal
are dismissed entirely and parties are to bear their own costs."
The court also held that the appellant failed to prove the case of
substantial election malpractice against the respondent, saying that the
appellant’s arguments in that regard were mere speculations.
It said that the testimonies of the appellant’s witnesses were riddled
with mistakes, errors and gaps, which made them untenable and
unreliable.
Credit: Tobi Soniyi/ThisDay
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