The
Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Ado Ekiti on Tuesday affirmed
the victory of the senator representing Ekiti South, Senator Biodun
Olujimi, in the March 28 National Assembly election.
The Tribunal threw out the petition filed by the All Progressives Congress candidate, Chief Tony Adeniyi, for lacking merit.
Adeniyi
had claimed that Olujimi did not resign from office as a board member of
the Nigeria Communications Commission within the time allowed by law
before the conduct of the election.
But in the
judgment delivered by a member of the three-man panel, Justice P.A.
Obayi, the tribunal held that Olujimi was not a public officer in the
employ of the Federal Government as claimed by Adeniyi because
the evidence before it showed that Olujimi as a non-executive member of
the NCC board was on part-time basis.
It held
that the PDP senator was not a public servant as envisaged in the First
Schedule of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), adding that the evidence
before it was “iron cast and rock solid.”
Having
resolved the first issue in Olujimi’s favour, the tribunal said the
second question of whether the first respondent resigned her appointment
as a board member of NCC did not arise.
Justice
Obayi said the second question had become “academic, speculative and
theoretically serves no purpose. The petition lacks merit and it is
accordingly dismissed.”
Adeniyi has, however, signified his intent to file an appeal against the tribunal judgment.
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