The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has declared candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Shittu Ibrahim, as winner of Saturday’s rerun held for Saki West state constituency.
According to the returning officer, Professor Olayiwola Oyewo, Shittu polled 13,850 votes to defeat Julius Okedoyin of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 13,670 votes.
The two polling units where rerun was held were Ogbalanja polling unit and Odo Osun unit.
Recall that Shittu was declared winner of the March 18, 2023 election by the INEC polling 13,692 votes to defeat Okedoyin, who had 13,422 votes.
Not satisfied with the result declared by INEC, Okedoyin and PDP approached the election petition tribunal, claiming irregularities, overvoting, and non-compliance.
In a judgement delivered in September 2023, a three-member tribunal led by Justice Jubril Anaja, nullified Shittu’s election.
According to Anaja, the result of the election could be significantly impacted by the cancellation of results in Unit 7, Ward 6 and Unit 19, Ward 11 of the constituency, which had 1,285 voter cards collected.
The tribunal held that over 1,000 voters were disenfranchised, while the margin of victory between the winner and petitioner was 270 votes.
In an attempt to overturn the tribunal’s decision, Shittu appealed the judgement.
In a judgement delivered in November 2023, the Court of Appeal upheld the tribunal’s judgement and ordered a rerun in the two polling units.
It also directed the INEC to withdraw the certificate of return from Shittu.
