Yesterday, December 29, the Ekiti State Governorship Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Ado Ekiti, affirmed the victory of Biodun Oyebanji (APC) in the June governorship elections in the state.

Justice Wilfred Kpochi presided over the three-man tribunal and found that the claims of election rigging and vote trading, as well as procedural violations, made by Segun Oni, the candidate for the Social Democratic Party, were unfounded and lacking merit.

The tribunal also rejected the request to disqualify the APC deputy governorship candidate for certificate forgery. It stated that the matter was not brought up in the 21-day period legal. Also, the tribunal ruled that it would be a violation of injunctions to raise new facts or pleas at mid-process.

The tribunal also said the argument that the signing of Oyebanji’s nomination form by the Yobe State Governor who acted as the National Chairman of the APC, Mai Mala Buni is immaterial since the candidate and his running mate was validly elected at the party’s primary.

Oyebanji had polled a total of 187,057 votes to defeat his two closest challengers – Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Bisi Kolawole of the People’s Democratic Party. The SDP emerged in second place with total votes of 82,211 while the PDP was third with 67,457 votes.