Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
The Court of Appeal, sitting in Ibadan, has struck out the appeal filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) on behalf of a former governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, against the electoral victory of Senator Kola Balogun, representing Oyo South senatorial district in the National Assembly.
The judgment has laid to rest the move by Ajimobi to return to the Senate over his dissatisfaction with the results of February 23,2019 National Assembly poll in the state. The result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) indicated that Balogun won the election and defeated his closest rival, Ajimobi of the APC with a vote difference of 13,502. A total of 105,720 votes were recorded in favour of Balogun and 92,217 votes for Ajimobi.
The APC on behalf of Ajimobi listed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the first respondent and Senator Balogun as second respondent.
The judgment of the three-man panel of the Court of Appeal, delivered by Justice Haruna Tsammani, struck out Ajimobi’s appeal on the grounds that it lacked merit and upheld the judgment of the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal delivered on September 10, this year, saying the tribunal was right in its judgment.
The court held that one of the issues raised by the petitioner that Balogun did not qualify to participate in the general elections because he did not participate in the primary election conducted in PDP in 2018 was a pre-election matter that should be taken to the Federal High Court and not tribunal.