The Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State capital, on Wednesday upheld the election of Senator Sharafadeen Alli of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as winner of the Oyo South senatorial election as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the 2023 general elections
The panel delivered the judgment on Wednesday when it dismissed the petition filed by the candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the district, Chief Joseph Tegbe, who challenged the February 25, 2023 victory of Alli, at the tribunal.
This is coming two days after the same panel dismissed the petition of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) and its Oyo South Senatorial Candidate, Funmilola Gbogbolomo Adewale Maryam against Alli on the grounds that the petition was incompetent.
Alli in the election held in over 2,400 polling units in the nine local government areas that make up Oyo South Senatorial District, scored 111,513 votes against Tegbe’s 92,481 votes.
In the petition, marked: EPT/OY/SEN/04/2023, Tegbe is the first petitioner, while PDP is the second petitioner. However, Alli, APC, and INEC are the first second, and third respondents respectively. Tegbe had asked the three-man tribunal, led by Justice A. M. Yakubu, to order a rerun of the election, alleging that Alli failed to garner the majority of lawful votes in the election, which constituted non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral laws.
Tegbe called 32 witnesses, including himself, to prove his case that the election that produced the winner was fraught with irregularities and failed to comply with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
