Dr. Olusegun Mimiko

My case against Agagu has nothing to do with PDP – Mimiko.

Text of an Interview granted Punch Newspapers and published on August 16, 2008.

The Ondo State Election Petitions Tribunal recently declared you as the winner of the April 2007 governorship election in the state. The Peoples Democratic Party is heading for the appeal court. What is your expectation at this stage?

Well, going to the appeal court is their constitutional right. The Electoral Act 2006 allows them to go for appeal within a stipulated period. I believe absolutely that the tribunal did a wonderful job. They did not allow themselves to be swayed in any way. The judgement itself, according to our lawyer, was a profound judgement. It dealt with many issues.

Of course, we did a diligent presentation of our case, we deployed ICT tools and very credible witnesses. We were able to prove that the election was rigged in those areas, so we are confident that the appeal court will uphold the decision of the election tribunal. Perhaps, I should also say that a lot of commendation goes to President Umaru Yar’Adua for creating the enabling environment for the rule of law to blossom. With this environment, we have no doubt that the Court of Appeal will vindicate us, when the case eventually comes up.

Supposing the PDP succeeds in getting a re-run at the appeal tribunal, what assurance do you have that you will not be defeated?

The issue is not even whether there will be a re-run. The issue is that they did not ask for a re-run at the lower tribunal. I am not a lawyer, but our lawyer tells me that you cannot ask for a new declaration, as it were, at the level of appeal. What you did not ask for at the lower tribunal, you cannot come around to ask for at the appeal court. We are not even bothered about that because, really, there is no basis for it.

At the tribunal, we were able to prove that we won the election. We actually won the election because we had the majority of lawful votes, and we had the required spread. So, we are confident that the Court of Appeal will go ahead to confirm the ruling of the tribunal.

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The Labour Party governorship candidate in Ondo State, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, who was declared the duly elected governor of the state by the state election tribunal, has also filed a cross-appeal on some of the decisions of the panel at the Court of Appeal.

He filed the appeal barely 24 hours after Governor Olusegun Agagu challenged the verdict of the Justice Garba Nabaruma-led tribunal which removed him from office.

Mimiko’s appeal, signed by his lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), was filed by one of his lawyers, Chief Yinka Adeyosoye, at about 5pm on Thursday

He challenged the judgment of the panel on two grounds but also asked the appellate tribunal to uphold the judgment of the lower tribunal, which declared him the winner of the April 14, 2007 governor-ship election.

The LP governorship candidate stated in his appeal that the tribunal erred in law for rejecting his evidence, certified true copies of voter-register issued by the Independent National Electoral Commission for some polling units of Apoi in Ese-Odo Local Government Area of the state.

The lower tribunal had nullified the election results of all the wards in Ese-Odo LG except Apoi 1 Ward 1.

Mimiko also contended that the tribunal erred in law when it rejected in evidence a copy of referral letter from Obafemi Awolowo Teaching Hospotal, Ile-Ife, addressed to the University College Hospital, Ibadan, which was produced and tendered.

Consequently, Mimiko sought the order of the appellate court allowing the appeal and affirm judgment of the tribunal as delivered on July 25.

Adeyosoye, while briefing journalists after filing the notice of appeal said, “We have decided to file these two grounds of notice of appeal while the other grounds have been indicated on the notice to be filed upon receipt of record of proceedings.”

Dr. Bolaji Aluko writes via Nigerian Muse:

We all saw it coming – those of us who had not sold our conscience to the devil, that is. We knew that it was a matter of time for the rightful winner of the governorship polls in Ondo State, Rahman Olusegun Mimiko, to keep his date with destiny. He is just about on that highway now with the judgement of the Justice Garba Nabaruma Tribunal which awarded victory to him. Although the incumbent Governor Olusegun Agagu has appealed against that judgement, you don’t need an LLB to know that the power has abandoned the former university teacher. Agagu will soon be history even if he tries to muddy the waters before his long-awaited exit from the corridors of power.

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“THANK YOU ONDO STATE: A LAND OF FORTITUDE AND UNCOMMON COURAGE!”

Text of Dr Olusegun Mimiko. Ondo State Governor-Elect response to the Ondo State Election Tribunal Ruling on Friday 25, July 2008

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Speaking to reporters in Akure shortly after the judgment, the former Minister for Housing and Urban Development said: “The judgment is an affirmation of the will of the masses in Ondo State, and it has made Nigerian judiciary taller.

[image: Dr Mimiko with wife Kemi Mimiko and mother Madam Muyinatu Mimiko rejoicing shortly after the verdict in Ondo town]

“In totality, I am very happy; justice has eventually prevailed after lots of victimization, vilification, attack, deprivation and denial.

“God has perfected everything; we are now setting out for action and without any iota of doubt, we will deploy all veritable means to re-design the state for effective governance”.

He thanked President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua for creating an enabling environment that has allowed the judiciary to thrive, stressing that it was his commitment to the rule of law that assisted in correcting the anomaly witnessed during last year’s governorship election.

He, therefore, praised the people of the state for their courage, assuring them that he would run a people-driven government that would empower them in his four-year rule.

In a swift reaction to the judgment, Fawehinmi described it as a “cast-iron victory for truth and a clear-cut expression of the electoral wishes of the Ondo State people.”

In a statement Fawehinmi who is an indigene of the state added: “I congratulate all the members of the Election Petition Tribunal for their courage and honesty which are the pillars and hallmarks of the Rule of Law.

“Agagu should not prolong the agony of Ondo State by lodging appeal. Such an appeal will be a meaningless exercise. The Ondo State people have suffered so much as a result of the diabolically rigged election.

“All those who were adjudged involved in the criminal breaches of the electoral laws should be prosecuted.

“I appeal to Dr. Mimiko to make his administration the best, most progressive and most incorruptible for the Ondo State people.”

Also, the LP’s national chairman, Chief Dan Nwanyanwu and Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) have lauded the tribunal.

Speaking with The Guardian yesterday Nwanyanwu said the judgment fulfilled the expectations of the people considering that “Agagu did not win election.”

The CNPP’s National Publicity Secretary, Mr Osita Okechukwu, lauded the tribunal for upholding justice in the judgment “despite temptation, intimidation and overtures from the ruling government.”

He said the honourable judges engraved their names in the democracy hall of fame and that the judgment came at a time when many Nigerians had started to lose confidence in the judiciary, following “jaundiced judgments that came from the Appeal Tribunals recently.”

The Ekiti State chapter of the Action Congress (AC) in a statement praised the judiciary for the landmark ruling saying that despite the disappointment over some recent rulings, it had again proved that Nigerians could entrust their destiny in the hands of Judges.

“The yoke of electoral burden imposed on Nigerians by the duopoly of INEC and PDP is being eased by the judiciary and in no distant time, the manacles that these devious Siamese twins of PDP and INEC hung on the limbs of our democracy would be loosened,” the AC said.

[Guardian]

No election re-run. Details will come later!!!!

The much-awaited judgment of the Justice Garba Nabaruma-led Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Akure, Ondo State to resolve the legal controversies on the disputed April 14, 2007 gubernatorial polls in the state will be delivered on Thursday. – Guardian

Agagu’s performance in Ondo. By Adetokunbo Modupe, Guardian, Thursday, June 19, 2008

THE media, all over the world, is the vehicle for evaluating public good. This is in line with its role as the mirror through which the people view developments around them, regardless of the sphere. Although people in public service deliberately block access to information largely due to corruption, Nigeria is, nonetheless, steadily embracing this universal maxim.

So, when recently, ThisDay, one of Nigeria’s leading and most credible publications, made an appraisal of the state governments in the last one year, it was in conformity with this global mandate. In a rating ranging from excellent to below average, it scored most Governors based on well-known socio-economic criteria. In a basic economy like ours, the people are not expecting more than good roads, affordable healthcare, decent housing, sound education, safe water, job creation and agriculture. These are recognised globally as indices of development. And these are areas that ThisDay scored most of the governors in the past one year. Some were rated average, a few above average, while Ondo State and some others expectedly were rated below average.

The case of Ondo is a confirmation of what is obvious but nonetheless applaudable on the part of ThisDay Board of Editors for exposing the pain of the people of Ondo and other states who are being shortchanged by those elected (selected), or better still, fraudulently imposed through electoral gangsterism. It is, therefore, not surprising that most of the Governors lack proper vision, let alone the ability to deliver in the areas of basic expectations. The beauty of ThisDay’s rating is the fact that it is not the first time, and this year’s rating in particular, judging from public opinion, is a true reflection of the happenings in our country. Therefore, nobody will query the report except a derailed government like that which we have now in Ondo State.

Quite amazingly, the Ondo State Government led by Dr. Olusegun Agagu will go into the records with the swiftness it has responded to the Below Average rating it was scored by ThisDay newspaper. Through a banner headline, ThisDay’s Score Card of Errors, the Commissioner for Information and Mobilisation, Olorogun Eddy Olafeso on the instruction of his principal, derided the Nigerian media for being “parochial” and urged ThisDay to apologise to the people of Ondo for ‘this floppy and embarrassing exercise” having fallen victim of a “cocktail of lies.” An above average rating would have inspired a public holiday and a statewide vanity celebration but ThisDay board of editors lived up to public expectation in their very objective assessment and rating. Olafeso described the report as a sponsored effort by a “tiny group of disgruntled politicians who are against the landmark achievements (?) so far recorded by the incumbent government of Dr. Olusegun Agagu”.

He then wasted the rest of a full-page blabbing about what could have been. He didn’t mention the plan by the state Governor to have a big party had ThisDay rated the colourless Agagu administration average or better still, above average.

Performance is measured against budgetary allocation. If about N62.85 billion had been earned and spent in the last 365 days, and after a critical assessment of its utilisation, a verdict of below average is returned based on standard performance indicators, who is that rational person that will quarrel with the facts? Even a layman should know a new project from an old one. What the paper demanded to know, which the state failed to provide, are evidence of projects initiated or executed in the last one year. Not four years ago.

Come to think of it, if Dr. Agagu was not returned to office last year, although by a hugely flawed process, would he not still be assessed based on his first term? Some of the governors, including the President are first termers, and are expected to be judged in the past one year. One year is such a long time to make an impact. Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos was rated above average based on his performance in 365 days in spite of the huge challenges of governing a complex state like Lagos.

In Ondo, the people just want to have good roads, qualitative education, health care delivery system, water and low and medium housing. Simple! Some states have gone beyond these basics to more enduring initiatives as power projects, tourism and hospitality, mega city, industrial belts and economic zones, among others. Our expectations in Ondo are limited to the basics mentioned above which we do not have currently.

For an administration in a second term, the experience and knowledge garnered in the first four years should make full impact. Doing new or repairing old roads, for instance, cannot be rated extraordinary achievement because for a man in his sixth year in a class, he must have developed a template, roadmap or whatever relevant blueprint to achieve specific goals. But in this case, nothing of the sort is decipherable. What the Agagu second term should accomplish for Ondo State is to lay a solid foundation for long-term growth, not just staggering from one point to another, like a toddler.

Ordinarily, the ThisDay rating should be perceived as a call to action. But rather than so, the administration appears more enthusiastic about an unnecessary war with the press. It is hoped that the rejoinder Olafeso placed in the Nigerian Tribune of Friday, May 30, 2008 (page 47) was paid for from his personal pocket because if it was from the Ondo State treasury, he will be made to account for it one day. Again the commissioner admitted that ThisDay indeed sent a senior journalist to the state that was taken round the state on a guarded tour of projects. But what appears to have ruffled feathers was that the journalist reported what he saw on ground, and not a doctored piece they had expected. Plainly, the newspaper brought to the public domain what is well known to every Ondo indigene but which the administration had laboured in vain to conceal for years. Nobody is deceived. The people of Ondo are thankful to ThisDay for this expose. No well-meaning indigene of Ondo State is happy with the Agagu administration. There is a total disconnect between it and the people.

To make matters worse, the recalcitrant disposition of the administration has further bolstered the conviction in most quarters that, like a usurper, guilty conscience arising from a stolen mandate, has rightly denied it the bearing and space to think properly, and sunk it deeper into desperation. More embarrassing moments lie ahead, if the government continue in its floppiness. Indeed Agagu carries a peculiar cross. Being a Governor of Ondo State, elected by a bizarre electorate such as Mike Tyson, Bill Clinton, Chinua Achebe, Dora Akinyuli, and other voters from Planet Mars, leaves him without an ounce of credibility or dignity. Rigging in Nigeria had never taken such weird and comic dimensions. And to exacerbate it with incompetence and non-performance is double jeopardy.

The biggest losers are the good people of Ondo State who are unfairly being denied the dividends of democracy by a man they never voted for; who deployed everything in his armoury to achieve a questionable second term that is now being vigorously contested at the election petitions tribunal. The lesson here is that governance will be meaningless without being anchored on the collective good and wishes of the people.

Modupe, an Owo indigene, is a company executive in Lagos

It has been a harvest of election nullifications in Ondo State in the last few weeks. At the last count, no fewer than 12 elections into both the National Assembly and State House of Assembly had been nullified by the two Election Petition Tribunals sitting in Akure.

James Sowole reports via ThisDay. Full text below:

In Nigeria , political history placed Ondo State as the political hub of the South West geo-political Zone. The first political party of the then Western Region took off from Owo, an ancient town of the Sunshine State . When talking of the progressive political activities in the old region, the contributions of notable people like the first Executive Governor of the State, late Chief Adekunle Ajasin, late Chief Adebayo Adefarati, Chief Olu Falae, Chief Rueben Fasoranti, Chief Wunmi Adegbonmire, Senator Olorunnimbe Farukanmi and a host of others cannot be dismissed with a wave of hand.
The 1983 political crisis with the attendant destruction both in terms of human and property, is fresh in the minds of many political events watchers and which many still use to describe the people of the state as who abhor cheating. The contribution of notable indigenes of the state to the political struggle of the National Democratic Coalition(NADECO) for the enthronement of democracy in the country, also testified to the vibrancy of the people. The massive return of the choice of the people during the 1999 General Election in the person of the late Chief Adebayo Adefarati and the deliberate change of the people in 2003 against Adefarati in preference to the incumbent Governor, Olusegun Agagu clearly demonstrated the sensitivity of the people when a change is desired.
The level of political awareness of the people and their determination to ensure that their choice is respected when choosing their leaders, was demonstrated with the vigour they handled electoral processes into various offices before, during and after the April 14 and April 21, 2007 general election.
The startling revelations at the tribunals showed the level of commitment of the people to ensure that their choices were respected. Watchers of events were inundated daily during the preliminary hearing of various cases at the tribunals as documentary evidences which many thought cannot be obtained were tendered in pursuance of petitions. Apart from 1983 when the outcome of the governorship election involving first executive governor of the state, Chief Adekunle Ajasin and his estranged deputy, Chief Akin Omoboriowo was taken before the Election Petition Tribunal, the state has not witnessed legal fireworks at the courts.
The enormity of petitions emanating from the 2007 elections and the need to tackle them headlong necessitated the setting up of two election petitions tribunals in the state. While Justice Garba Nabaruma-led panel concentrated on the cases emanating from the gubernatorial poll in which the incumbent Governor, Dr Olusegun Agagu of the Labour Party (PDP) and Dr Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party (LP) are the main actors and few of the cases on the Legislative elections, the Justice Joseph Ikyegh led panel concentrated on the remaining exercises bothering on State and National Assembly Polls.
Until judgments started rolling in based on the documentary evidences placed before the two tribunals, the general belief was that it is very impossible to prove cases of election malpractices in Nigeria .
As at the time of filling this report, the LP was having an edge going by the outcome of various judgments delivered so far by the two tribunals. While the LP had secured one more seat at the State House of Assembly in addition to nine it had originally, the PDP in the state had suffered repeated losses as the panels keep nullifying the election of its members into the National and State House of Assembly one after the other.
So far, the PDP had lost six members of the State House of Assembly including the speaker, five members of House of Representatives and one Senate seat.
Those who had their elections nullified as members of the State House of Assembly by the two Election Petition Tribunals are Obagbemi Oladunjoye, Adebusoye Olaniyi, of Okitipupa constituencies 1 and 11 respectively, Pius Idowu Adebusuyi of Ifedore, Atikase Otito Thompson of Ilaje constituency 1, Igbekele Bolodeoku of Eseodo and the Speaker, Bakkita Olufowobi Bello of Akoko North -West I constituencies. Equally, a third term Senator and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Gbenga Ogunniya representing Ondo Central Senatorial District was asked to vacate his seat in the Upper chamber of the National Assembly by Justice Joseph Ikyegh-led Panel.
The members of the House of Representatives who got their elections nullified by the election panels are Agboola Ajayi representing Ilaje/Eseodo, Jones Akinyugha of Idanre/Ifedore, Gbenga Elegbeleye of Akoko North West and North East and Temitayo Fawehinmi representing Ondo East and West federal constituencies at the National Assembly. One of the causalities, Ajayi, the Chairman of the House Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) had his election nullified twice. The first nullification was due to the fact that he was not qualified as at the time the election was held as the tribunal held that the certificate he tendered for the poll, was not genuine.
It will be an understatement to say that the leadership and the entire members of the PDP did not bargain for what befell the party in Ondo State which as at now accounted for the highest number of nullifications premised on the outcome of the April 2007 Elections. That the party’s leadership was not comfortable with the nullification of some determined petition was saying the obvious as they were anxious of what would be the outcome of the remaining three cases which the two tribunals will determine soon including the star petition which is the, gubernatorial.
The major reason for this is that some of the elections which were held the same day and in the same constituencies have been nullified by the election panel. These included the election of Prince Oyebo Aladetan of Ilaje Constituency I where the tribunal had nullified that of his counterpart in Constituency 11. The remaining House of Representatives Petition is that of Ile-Oluji/Odigbo Federal Constituency where the tribunal had determined the petitions of the LP in favour of the PDP candidates in respect of State House of Assembly.
One thing was common to all the cases that had been determined. The tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to organise fresh elections within periods ranging from 60 days to 90 days from the day the judgments were delivered. The only exemption was in the judgment delivered by Justice Garba Nabaruma-led panel, where the tribunal ordered that Pius Idowu Adebusuyi should vacate the Ifedore Constituency seat in the State Assembly for the LP candidate, Oloyelogun David Bamidele.
It must be noted that reasons for the nullification of these elections were similar. The tribunals based their judgments on proven cases of irregularities, corrupt practices, inflation of results in favour of the respondents, signing of election results by political office holders and use of unauthorised stamps like those of defunct NECON, FEDECO and NEC contrary to the provision of Electoral Acts 2006. There were cases of over voting, multiple registrations while cases of multiple thumbprinting were established thorough scientific method with the aid of finger print expert.
In all cases, the tribunal held that the number of votes declared in many poling units were more than the number of registered voters as revealed by the ballot recount exercise ordered by the panels while in many cases the figures in the INEC result sheets were far more than even the number of ballot papers supplied by the commission just as votes were allocated to political parties that did not contest election at all.
For example, the INEC stated in its result that Bolodeoku polled a total of 32,313 votes to emerge as winner of the election while his closer challenger, Prince Ibunkun Kalasuwe of LP scored 1,121. But in the vote recount ordered by the tribunal, a total of 21,529 was the total number of used and unused ballot papers found in the ballot boxes in the state constituency. Apart from a total of 12,952 in excess of the votes, the tribunal held that the ballot papers sent to the constituency for the election was only 4,000. This was despite the fact that an Electoral Officer posted to the zone, Mr Toyin Abegunde in his report had said that election did not hold because of massive violence in the area.
More curious in the judgment read by Justice Abdullahi Maiwada on behalf of others was that only six political parties contested the election but the electoral umpire gave result to 12 political parties just as governorship ballot papers found its way to the House of Assembly result.
Earlier, Justice Garba Nabaruma-led Tribunal had nullified the election of Fawehinmi representing Ondo East and West federal constituency at the House of Representatives and Adebusuyi representing Ifedore constituency at the State House of Assembly. The grouse of Dr Irinola Akinlaja who got judicial pronouncement to get Fawehinmi’s election nullified was that Fawehinmi was not duly returned by the total number of valid vote cast and the tribunal in upholding the submission based its verdict on the fact that there were different entries in both form EC8A II which is the Unit results form and form EC8B II which were used for collating of result.
The Justice Nabaruma-led tribunal that nullified the election of Fawehinmi also nullified the election of Adebusuyi. But in his case, his opponent in the election, Mr Bamidele Oleyelogun of LP was declared the winner of the election. The tribunal based its verdict on the irregularities discovered in the exhibits submitted by the petitioners and the evidences of the witnesses in the petitions.
For the election of Elegbeleye, the tribunal held that the election was irregular because there was massive thumb printing of ballot papers at the palace of Olukare of Ikare, Oba Akadiri Momoh. Also, the Tribunal discovered that inanimate objects were used for voting during the election by agents of the PDP’s candidate just as there was no accreditation of voters before the purported election took place
In their verdict having held that the election was fraught with irregularities, the justices said the petitioner was able to prove the allegations raised in the petition. These allegations, they said, included multiple voting, violence during the election and non accreditation of voters before the actual election. The Tribunal also held that the result declared by INEC did not tally with the actual voting when physical counting of the votes recorded during the election was carried out, just as the justices frowned at the discovery that inanimate objects were used during the voting exercise.
The same grounds for the nullification of election of other PDP members were also the one used for the nullification of Atikase’s election, who represent Ilaje Constituency11 in the Assembly. The Justice Joseph Ikeygh-led Election Petition Tribunal predicated its decision on the non-compliance substantially with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2006 as to who should sign the form EC8A and EC8B.
In the verdict, the tribunal held that the result declared by INEC was 31,119 while the vote recount showed 20,490. Out of the result of the vote recount, it was discovered that only 11,900 has INEC stamps. Other were either not stamped or signed by the electoral officers. Delivering the unanimous judgment on behalf of others, Justice Ijem Onwuagbu said “there is no basis for the return of the first respondent (Atikase) representing Ilaje constituency two hence it has been established that the April 14 elections contained a lot of irregularities and malpractices.
Delivering judgment in the petition filed against Akinyugha’s return by the LP candidate in the election, Mr. Moshood Bakare, Justice Paul Elechi who read the judgment on behalf of others said the election was nullified on the grounds of over-voting and signing of election results by seven serving political office holders.
According to the justices, since the election was based on ballot count, the result of the votes count as ordered by the tribunal cannot sustain the Respondent. Rather, it supported the allegation of electoral malpractices basically against INEC as canvassed by the Petitioner.
Justice Elechi wondered how 25,477 ballot papers would be found and counted in INEC’s bags while a total of 38,130 was recorded in the Commission’s results form without any explanation by the electoral body as to the whereabouts of the shortfall of 12,563.
In the determined cases, the actions and inactions of the officials of the INEC were exposed while the collusion of some law enforcement agents was found to negate their callings. The tribunal berated an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Chris Oloyede, who signed election results as the PDP agent during the House of Representative Election in Ese Odo Federal Constituency.
Justice Yargatha Nimpa, who read the judgment, said “it was incomprehensible that a public officer in the rank of an Assistant Commissioner of Police could act as party agent.”
Though, the tribunal did not deal with the crime content of various petitions, it had harsh words for the elected officers who used their positions to influence the outcome of the elections saying for the nation’s democracy to grow, the incidence of excesses of public office holders who use their positions to circumvent the electoral rights of the people must be firmly checked.
The tribunal expressed its disgust in a clear manner about political office holders signing election results sheets while giving judgment in the petition against the return of the former speaker of the State House of Assembly, Mr Bakkita Bello, as it was established that the Attorney-General and the Commissioner for Justice of Ondo State, Mr. Yemi Alao signed results sheets in five out of the six wards that made up Akoko North West Constituency 1.
“Should the absence of sanctions in the provision of Electoral Law of Nigeria be a license for the breach of the same especially signing of election result sheets by Chief Law Officer of a state. The answer should be no”, says Justice Ijem Onwuamgbu who read the judgment.
The judgments of the electoral panels were not about nullification of election as victories of some members have been upheld by the panels while the petitions of the aggrieved candidates have been dismissed. Apart from the LP and the only Alliance for Democracy (AD) lawmakers who had their elections upheld, some members of the ruling party have also got their elections upheld. Some of the beneficiaries of the soft side of the tribunal were Senator Bode Olajumoke representing Ondo North Senatorial district, Dr Wole Olakunde representing Okitipupa/Irele federal constituency and Hon. Alaba Oladoyinbo Ojomo, representing Owo/Ose Constituency.

Third-term Senator and Chairman of the Senate Committee on Police Affairs, Gbenga Ogunniya of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday became the first member of the Upper House of the National Assembly to lose his seat at the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Akure, Ondo State.

The five-man tribunal led by Justice Joseph Ikyegh in a unanimous judgment on the petition filed by Patrick Akinyelure, the Labour Party (LP) candidate in the controversial April 21, 2007 National Assembly election in Ondo Central Senatorial District, nullified the exercise and directed that fresh polls be conducted in the constituency, comprising six local councils, within the next 60 days.

Source: Guardian.