The Court of Appeal in Abuja, on Thursday evening, upheld the victory of Dr. Kayode Fayemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last governorship election held in Ekiti State.
The proceedings lasted less than 30 minutes.
A three-man panel of the court, in unanimous judgement, dismissed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Prof. Kolapo Olusola, for lacking in merit.
The court upheld the January 28, 2019 judgement of the Ekiti State Election Tribunal, which sat in Abuja owing to problem of insecurity in Ekiti State.
The tribunal had, in its judgement, upheld Fayemi’s victory and dismissed the petition by PDP and Olusola on the grounds that they failed to prove their allegations, among which was that the election was marred by irregularities.
Justice Stephen Adah, who read the lead judgement, resolved the seven issues, identified for determination, in favour of the respondents – Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), APC and Fayemi.
Other members of the panel, Justices Tinuade Akomolafe Wilson and Emmanuel Agim, agreed with the lead judgement.
Justice Adah, at the commencement of proceedings, around 7.05pm, noted that the day was fast spent and elected to read a summary of the lead judgement.
After announcing that the seven issues were resolved against the appellants, Justice Adah proceeded to uphold the earlier judgement of the tribunal.
He subsequently dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit.
