The Federal Court of Appeal Ibadan on Thursday dismissed the applications filed by Senator Rashidi Ladoja and Accord Party challenging the victory of the Oyo State Governor, Senator Abiola Ajimobi in the April 11 governorship election.
The court upheld the judgment of the Oyo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal delivered on 27 October by a three-man panel.
The five-man panel of Judges of the Appeal Court was unanimous in their decisions, stating that Ladoja and Accord Party’s appeal lacked merit and that the evidence of the principal witness in the appeal, Bimbo Adepoju, tagged as PW1, is inadmissible.
The judges led by Justices H.M. were: Ogunjimiju, Haruna Simeon Tsammanani, Uchechukwu Onyemenam, J. Olubunmi Oyewole and M.L. Shuaibu.
The appellant lead counsel, Chief Robert Clark, in a suit number CA/IB/EPT/GOV/31/2015, prayed the court to dismiss the judgment of the lower tribunal against his client (Ladoja) on the basis that it excluded the evidence of his clients’ principal witness while Accord Party’s lead counsel in CA/IB/EPT/GOV/31A/2015 in another brief prayed the court to declare Senator Rashidi Ladoja the winner of 11 April election.
The Appeal court Judges in their ruling affirmed the victory of Senator Ajimobi and dismissed Ladoja and Accord’s appeal on the ground that the “the totality of evidence presented by PW1 is an opinion” and could not be considered because it was not that of evidence.
The judges further said the principal witness is an interested party and such evidence could not be relied upon.
Citing section 68 (1) of Evidence Act, with reference to pages 192,201,203 and 214 of the lower court judgment, the court submitted that PW1 evidence “does not contain statement of fact” because he is not competent to give such report.
In their separate delivery, it was unanimously agreed that PW1 who was the main witness in the case because he is a card carrying member of Accord, an interested person, queried why he should render an opinion when he is not an expert, saying only an expert can make opinion in cases and will stand according to the constitution.
They also made references to inconsistency in the evidences which the witness could not explain under cross examination that lasted five days at the lower tribunal.
The court even emphasized that the PW1 discredited himself during cross examination as he confessed to “wrong” at a point in time.
They further submitted that the claim of violence and manipulation in areas mentioned could not be established.
In the second appeal – CA/IB/EPT/GOV/31A/2015, which was also dismissed, the judges further upheld tribunal’s position.
“Tribunal was right to state that the document of PW1 was inadmissible,” and that his evidence was a mere opinion.
The lead Judge, H.M. Ogunjimiju added that there was no proof that non-compliance to the guideline of election affected the outcome of the election.
She also posited that the appellant “put all their eggs in one basket and the basket is a leaking one.”
Reacting after the ruling, counsel to All Progressives Congress (APC) Wole Aina, said the team was not surprised on the outcome of the appeal court ruling, adding “We actually saw it coming.”
Counsel to Accord, Prince Aderemi Olatubora, said the outcome was not what they bargained for, adding that the team thought otherwise because the case in question was similar to that of Rivers State where the election of Governor Nyesom Wike was nullified.
He promised that they are ready to prove that at the Supreme Court.
In its reaction, the All Progressives Congress in Oyo State stated “it was high time Senator Rashidi Ladoja accepted the reality of his defeat at the polls and subsequent failure in various courts.”
APC in a statement signed by its Director of Publicity and Strategy, Olawale Sadare, advised Senator Ladoja to forget about his dream of returning to Agodi Government House with the outcome of the 11 April, 2015 polls.
Sadare said: “As days roll by and all efforts to unseat Sen. Abiola Ajimobi as the governor of Oyo State by Ladoja prove abortive, it is imperative for the former governor to save the time of the government and good people of the state who feel distracted by the needless political horse-trading after a globally acclaimed mandate had been delivered to the rightful winner.
“Having lost the electoral campaign by failing to convince voters to queue behind again after the 2003-07 disappointment, the candidate of the APC (Ajimobi) was handed a field day on April 11, 2011. All the candidates of opposition parties, except Ladoja, accepted their defeat in good faith and threw their weight behind the jinx breaker.”
He concluded, “Truth is constant and now that it has been substantially established that Sen. Abiola Ajimobi and the APC won fair and square. We urge the leader of the Accord Party and his handful sympathizers to put all that happened before, during and after the 2015 general elections behind them and join hands with Gov. Ajimobi to move the state forward.”
Also, former Governor of the State, Otunba Adebayo Alao-Akala has called on aggrieved contenders to stop litigations and join hands with Governor Ajimobi in moving the state forward.
He said the victory was well deserved and was an affirmation of the popular mandate given to the governor by the people of the state.
The former governor used the opportunity to confirm media reports of his planned defection to APC which, he said, was almost a done deal.
Alao-Akala said, “I am here to rejoice with my brother for the judgment of today in the court. We already knew what the outcome would be; we had expected what we got today. So we are rejoicing. The governor has the interest of the people of Oyo State at heart. He should, therefore, be allowed to take care of their welfare and to let them have life more abundant. We are all one.
“When somebody is in the front, you must follow him; God has put him there. Let us all help him so that he can also help the teeming population of Oyo State. I will advise the opposition or whoever is still aggrieved to please let us bury the hatchet and work together with the governor to move the state forward.”
Commenting on his reported defection to APC, Alao-Akala said “it has been on; we are still crossing the t’s and dotting the i’s. I am on my way (to APC)”.
Addressing supporters and party faithful, who thronged his house shortly after the judgment, Ajimobi dedicated his latest judicial victory to the Almighty God and the people of the state.
Ajimobi said, “We give glory to God. If God says yes, nobody can say No. We owe this victory to the Almighty and to the teeming population of Oyo State who wanted continuity and which reflected in their votes for me. I am appealing to my brother, Senator Ladoja and others to join us and work together with us instead of going from Appeal Court to Supreme Court.
“As you can see, we have formed an alliance with former Governor Alao-Akala; he is a formidable force in the politics of Oyo State and in Nigeria. An elephant in Ibadan, when he goes to London, he will remain an elephant. So an elephant in Peoples Democratic Party or Labour Party that comes to APC is still an elephant. So his coming is good. We are one.” – The News.
