PDP’s Jegede Splits Supreme Court

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The Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, has secured a legal endorsement of his second term in office after a majority decision of the Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed the appeal against his re-election

The appeal filed by Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s Eyitayo Jegede, however, succeeded in splitting the apex court with four justices ruling in favor of Akeredolu and three justices dissenting.

Read Also: BREAKING: SUPREME COURT DISMISSES SUIT CHALLENGING ONDO GOV’S ELECTION

This is the end of the road for Eyitayo Jegede. Twice he came up against Governor Akeredolu at the polls and in the court, and twice he lost.

But it was a close battle this time, with Akeredolu only managing a slim majority ruling from the Supreme Court

It was also almost expected. Both politicians are Senior Advocates of Nigeria, and quite familiar with the intricacies of election litigation.

Among the issues raised by the appellant was the eligibility of Governor Akeredolu to contest the election on the grounds of faulty nomination

It was argued that the nomination letter of Akeredolu was signed by another Governor, Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State, who doubles as the Chairman, APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee

Jegede also raised issues of massive irregularities including vote-buying and intimidation of party supporters.

The case was first dismissed by the election tribunal and later by the Court of Appeal, leading to a final appeal to the Supreme Court.

The apex court on Wednesday upheld the concurrent findings of the trial tribunal and the Court of Appeal, with four justices ruling in favour of Governor Akeredolu, while three dissented.

It was observed that the appellant failed to join the Yobe State Governor, Mai Mala Buni, as a party since the whole petition was centered around him.

The three dissenting justices including the Presiding Justice, Mary Odili, in their judgment, however, held the view that Jegede’s appeal had merit and ought to to be allowed.

The Supreme Court decision brings an end to PDP’s attempt to wrest power from the APC in Ondo state, at least for now.