by Ogunyemi Bukola

The two main opposition political parties in Ondo State have vowed to take their case against the election of Governor Olusegun Mimiko to the Court of Appeal in the wake of the judgment delivered by the Ondo Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.

Rotimi Akeredolu of the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, and Chief Olusola Oke of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, had their petitions against the October 2012 election which produced Mimiko as governor under the platform of the Labour Party dismissed by the tribunal.

Tribunal Chairman, Justice Andovar Kaka’an, in delivering his judgment stated that “The petitioners failed woefully to prove their allegations of crimes allegedly perpetrated during the poll by the defendants beyond any reasonable doubts.

“No single witness testified that he or she did not vote or that the votes were taken away to unauthorised places after the election while no police report, which indicated violence during the election, was tendered by any of the parties.

“The issues relating to the voter register are pre-election matters which the tribunal has no jurisdiction to entertain.”

Akeredolu and Oke however have vowed to take their case before the Court of Appeal, alleging that the tribunal has been compromised.

Reacting to the judgement, Chief Olusola Oke said “The ruling fell short of the expectation of the Ondo State people and we shall challenge it at the Court of Appeal.

“The party is not surprised as we had earlier reported the compromising attitude of this panel, when it erroneously struck out the name of our party and vital paragraphs of our petition, which we challenged at the Appeal Court and our prayers were upheld.”

Rotimi Agbede, the Publicity Secretary of the ACN in Ondo State, also expressed his disappointment: “It is rather unfortunate that the trial judges chose to close their eyes on the overwhelming oral and documentary evidences presented by the petitioners even when INEC principally refused to defend itself at the tribunal.”