Tribunal upholds Prince Adeyemi’s victory, dismisses Labour Party’s petition

The National Assembly Election Petitions Tribunal in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Wednesday, upheld the election of Rep. Akeem Adeyemi representing Oyo East, Oyo West, Atiba and Afijio Federal Constituency.
Adeyemi is the son of the Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi.
Kamil Akinlabi of Labour Party had challenged the declaration of Adeyemi of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the March 28 election.
Also joined in the petition were the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The petitioner had informed the tribunal, through his counsel, Mr R. Akinloye, that Adeyemi was not duly elected by the majority of lawful votes cast, adding that the election was marred by irregularities and malpractices.
Akinloye also said that Adeyemi did not have National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) certificate and prayed the court to declare his client as the winner of the election or order re-run in the affected local governments.
But delivering his judgement, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Tanko Yusuf, said the Electoral Act had prescribed the rules and regulations to be followed in determining election petition cases.
Yusuf said that the NYSC certificate was not part of the qualification for contesting election, saying Adeyemi had proved to the court that he had the minimum certificate for contesting election.
The judge said that for an allegation on irregularities and malpractices to be sustained, the petitioner most prove to the court that they had affected the outcome of the election.
Yusuf said that the evidence provided by the petitioner was deficient in quality and in quantity, saying the documents tendered were not relevant to the petition.
The judge, who said that the petitioner had failed to prove the petition beyond reasonable doubt, averred that it lacked merit and was dismissed.