The National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Abuja has upheld the victory of Senator Smart Adeyemi of the APC in the November 16 Kogi West Senatorial rerun election.
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC had declared Adeyemi who garnered 88,373 votes as the winner of the poll against Dino Melaye of PDP who scored 62,133.
But Melaye had petitioned the tribunal seeking for him to be declared the winner of the election or on the contrary, the election is quashed for INEC to conduct fresh election.
But the tribunal in a unanimous ruling on Wednesday said the prayer of the petitioner cannot stand as the Petitioner’s witnesses failed to substantiate their claims in the petition to warrant granting Melaye his prayers.
The also held that the Petitioner failed to prove non-compliance with the standard of electoral acts in the election.
The tribunal said all the 71 witnesses called by the petitioners contracted themselves during cross-examinations and made “worthless, unreliable and unmerited statement’ that cannot be relied on.
The court also rejected the videos and other documents presented by the Petitioner during the final written addresses, because they were not pleaded uring proceedings.
The Tribunal subsequently dismissed Melaye’s petition and upheld Senator Smart Adeyemi as duly and lawfully elected in the Kogi West Senate election.
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