2023 polls: Ogun tribunal receives 19 petitions

By Christiana Ekpa

No fewer than 19 petitions have been received by the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, the State capital.
The petitions were received from various candidates and political parties who are willing to challenge the results of the various elections they participated in between February and March, 2023.
The Secretary of the Tribunal, Ezenta Obioma, confirmed this to newsmen on Friday.
According to her, two of the petitions were received from the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ladi Adebutu, and the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), Ajadi Oguntoyinbo.
The two governorship candidates are challenging the victory of the incumbent Governor Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the polls.
It was gathered that 17 House of Assembly candidates from various state constituencies had also filed petitions to contest the results of the State Assembly elections as announced by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
16 of the petitions were filed by the PDP Assembly candidates, while one was filed by a candidate of the APC.
Adebutu and Oguntoyinbo had dragged Abiodun, the APC and INEC before the tribunal in their separate petitions.
Adebutu is seeking an order from the court declaring him as the winner of the election or to order INEC to conduct a fresh election in 99 polling units in 41 wards which cut across 16 Local government areas of the state where elections were either not held and/or cancelled due to disruption and over-voting.
On his part, the NNPP candidate is protesting the “omission of the party’s name on the ballot papers” used for the governorship election by INEC.
When asked, the Secretary of the tribunal could not confirm when the court would commence sitting proper, saying, “We are still at the filing stage, so I cannot tell you precisely when the tribunal is going to commence sitting.”