Oyo Guber: Appeal Court Rules In Favour Of APC, But Leaves Makinde In Office

A Court of Appeal in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, on Monday, upheld the appeal filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adebayo Adelabu, against Governor Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The court faulted the ruling of the Oyo State Governorship Election Tribunal that nullified the petition brought by Mr Adelabu against Mr Makinde.

Justice Yahaya, the lead judge of the four-man panel, on Monday declared that there was a miscarriage of justice by the tribunal and that the right to fair hearing of APC’s Adelabu was breached.

Yahaya held that the documents tendered by the appellants ought to have guided the tribunal through proper investigation, stressing that the pieces of evidence were also not adequately evaluated.

The Electoral Act only gives a grace of 180 days for a case to be heard at the election tribunal.

The appeal court ruled that the tribunal had exhausted its time; therefore, the case could not be sent back to it for review.

The court held that if not for time, it would have ordered a re-trial at the tribunal, noting that “unfortunately, the time limit of 180 days for the tribunal had been exhausted.”

The panel, therefore, affirmed the victory of Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party in the Oyo State governorship election.