Supreme Court declares Dapo Abiodun as duly elected governor of Ogun

The Supreme Court on Friday affirmed Dapo Abiodun as duly elected governor of Ogun State in the March 2023 governorship elections.

Justice Tijjani Abubakar, who delivered the judgment, dismissed the appeals against Abiodun.

The appeal was filed by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Ladi Adebutu, in the March 18 governorship election.

Adebutu’s appeal is seeking the nullification of the declaration of Dapo Abiodun as the winner of the election.

Specifically, he is challenging Abiodun’s re-election on the grounds that the Electoral Act, 2022, was not adhered to, citing corrupt practices and issues of non-qualification.

PDP and Adebutu want the Supreme Court to set aside and dismiss the judgement of the Court of Appeal, Lagos, which had, on November 23, affirmed the decision of the Tribunal in upholding Adiodun’s victory.

Recall that two Judges of the court below had dismissed the appeal filed by Adebutu for lacking in merit, while Justice Jane Esienanwan Inyang saw merit in the petition and thereby ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return presented to Abiodun and conduct another election in 99 polling units where elections were disrupted.

The appellant said that INEC ought to have conducted fresh elections in 99 polling units where elections were cancelled and not declared a winner.

He said the return of the governor by INEC was unlawful, and the election was wrongly concluded because corrupt practices were allegedly manifest during the March 18 governorship poll.

INEC had declared Abiodun the winner of the governorship election after polling 276,298 votes to defeat his closest rival, Adebutu, who polled 262,383 votes.