By Dayo Johnson
AKURE—THE Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, yesterday, affirmed the election of Lucky Aiyedatiwa and Dr. Olayide Adelami, as the Governor and Deputy Governor of Ondo State in the November 16, 2024 governorship election.
This was sequel to the dismissal of the appeals of some political parties against the judgment of the Ondo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal of June 4, 2025, which affirmed the election of the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidates.
Recall that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, African Democratic Congress, ADC, Allied People’s Movement, APM, and Social Development Party, SDP, had filed appeals against the judgment of the tribunal, asking for the invalidation of the November 16, 2024 governorship election.
In their rulings, Justice Nimpar Yargata, Justice K.I. Amadi and Justice I.M. Sani, unanimously struck out the appeals for not substantiating the claims of non compliance with the Electoral Act.
They, held that the appellants failed to prove their allegations against the election as they did not show how their claims affected the election in the various polling units, wards and local government areas where the election took place. The judges awarded cost of N1.5m against the appellants.
Speaking after the judgment, Aiyedatiwa described the verdict as a welcome development, commending the Appeal Court justices for the painstakingly going through the cases and delivering detailed unanimous judgments.
He said: “I give glory to Almighty God who orchestrated this journey from the beginning and used the good people of Ondo State. Over 366,000 residents gave us their mandate on November 16 last year to continue governing this state as the seventh democratically elected governor. That mandate was validated by the tribunal and has now been reaffirmed by the Appeal Court.”
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