Ekiti Guber: SDP’s Segun Oni heads to court as Kolawole accepts election results

By Doris Israel Ijeoma

The SDP candidate in the June 18 Ekiti State Gubernatorial Election, Chief Segun Oni has challenged the results of the election.

Oni believes that he defeated the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Oyebanji, who was declared the winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

He has now proceeded to file a 1,095-page petition before the Ekiti State Election Petition Tribunal, saying the decision was not borne out of enmity but to sanitise the system and give power to the people to elect their representatives

INEC had said Oyebanji of the APC won the election having polled 187,057 votes against Oni of the SDP who scored 82,209 votes to come second among the 16 candidates that participated in the election.

The lead counsel of the petitioner, Obafemi Adewale, SAN, who said there was more to the election, added, “If my client had believed the governorship election was free, fair, and credible, he would not have challenged the outcome.”

Adewale said that his client also believed that “the person declared by INEC as the winner did not win with lawful votes.”

Meanwhile, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the election, Bisi Kolawole who came third in the poll, has declared support for the governor-elect, saying he did this in the interest of Ekiti populace.

Speaking on Friday when he received Oyebanji at his Ado- Ekiti residence, Kolawole said the fact he contested against Oyebanji in the election notwithstanding, he had no reason to become an enemy of the actual winner.