Tribunal Upholds Fayose's Election

The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on the Ekiti State
governorship election has dismissed the petition filed by the All
Progressives Congress, APC, challenging the declaration of Mr. Ayodele
Fayose of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as winner of the
election.

Fayose had defeated Dr. Kayode Fayemi in the June 21 Ekiti
governorship election but while Fayemi, who was the incumbent accepted
the outcome, his party - APC - rejected it and approached the tribunal
to have the election nullified.

Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Mohammed Ibrahim-Siraju, who
dismissed the petition on all grounds, pointed out that the petitioner
failed to substantiate the allegations with evidence.

The APC had, among others prayers, demanded that the election of
Fayose be nullified because it was heavily militarized and that its
officers and members were arrested, molested and detained during the
election.

It also claimed that Fayose was not qualified to have stood for the
election in the first instance, having been indicted by a probe panel
and impeached during his first term in office for breach of code of
conduct.

But Justice Siraju, in his judgement that lasted over four hours, held
that the petitioners failed to prove all the allegations raised
against the governor.
--infonaija