The election petition tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, has ordered a fresh conduct of the senatorial election in 110 polling units in Ogun East Senatorial District.
Following the earlier election, Mr Buruji Kashamu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was declared winner of the poll.
Delivering his judgement, the Tribunal Chairman, Justice Ebiowei Tobi, said that the election was marred with irregularities and non-compliance with the Electoral Law.
The tribunal also nullified the election into the Federal House of Representatives in Ijebu East /Ijebu North /Ogun waterside, won by the PDP being represented by Mr Adekoya Adesegun, while it upheld three state House of Assembly elections.
It dismissed two applications of the APC and ordered fresh election in five state constituencies.
The Petition challenging Kashamu’s victory in the March 28 National Assembly elections, was filed by candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Prince Dapo Abiodun.
Although no date has been fixed for the fresh election, the Tribunal Chairman directed that the exercise should hold within 90 days.
Mr Kashamu is, however, to remain in the Senate until the conclusion of the elections.
Meanwhile, Kashamu is heading to the Appeal Court to challenge the nullification of his election by the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal.
A statement from Kashamu, issued by his Media Aide, Austin Oniyokor said his boss is certainly going to test the veracity of the tribunal’s verdict at the Court of Appeal.
“The tribunal has given its judgment, but it is not the end of the road. That is the beauty of the judicial process,” the statement said.
The statement denounced the various online captions that said ‘Tribunal nullifies Kashamu’s victory,’ saying that the court only ordered a rerun.
“Our attention has been drawn to some media reports that the Senator representing Ogun East Senatorial District, Prince Buruji Kashamu, was today sacked by the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
“We wish to say that this is not a true reflection of what transpired at the tribunal.
Although the tribunal has said the full judgment will be made available on Monday, it could not be said to have sacked Kashamu because, according to it, after the removal of voided votes, Kashamu is still leading with 5,179 votes,” it said.
The statement said according to the tribunal’s findings, Kashamu has 75,856 votes against Dapo Abiodun’s 70,677 votes.
“So how can the person leading be said to have been “sacked”? For who? The losing candidate? We think not.
“Besides, the rerun was ordered in 110 out of over 1,135 polling units in the senatorial district. That is less than 10 percent of the polling units in the senatorial district,” it added.
