BY Kunle Daramola
The state assembly election petition tribunal sitting in Ibadan, Oyo state, has ordered a supplementary election for the Saki west house of assembly seat.
On Thursday, the tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a supplementary election in two polling units in the constituency within 90 days.
The tribunal said whereas Shittu Ibrahim, the declared winner, led Julius Okedoyin, the petitioner, by 270 votes in the election, the number of voters disenfranchised was more than 1,000.
On March 18, INEC declared Ibrahim of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the election after he scored 13,692 votes to defeat Okedoyin of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had 13,422 votes.
Okedoyin and the PDP had challenged the outcome, while alleging over-voting, irregularities and non-compliance with electoral guidelines.
Delivering a unanimous ruling of the three-man panel, the tribunal ruled that the cancellation of results from ward 6, unit 7 and ward 11, unit 19 of the constituency with 1,285 voter cards collected, could substantially affect the outcome of the election.
It held that the more than 1,000 voters disenfranchised by INEC in the affected wards could have overturned the result if they were allowed to vote.
“The certificate of return issued to the first respondent (Ibrahim) by INEC is hereby set aside pending the re-run election to determine the winner of the election for Saki west constituency,” the tribunal said.
“INEC is hereby ordered to conduct a re-run election in Ward 6, Unit 7 and Ward 11, unit 19 within 90 days.”
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