Ekiti State Governor-elect, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, on Wednesday filed his defence to the petition by candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and outgoing Deputy Governor Kolapo Olusola-Eleka against his election.
Fayemi and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), will be represented by 35 lawyers at the election petition tribunal.
In the 2,558-page defence with over 3,000 documents as exhibits, Dr. Fayemi averred that he won the gubernatorial election of July 14, 2018, and urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition of Prof. Eleka for lacking in merit.
Fayemi’s team of lawyers, armed with 3,500 exhibits and 1,009 witnesses, were led to the tribunal by three Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SAN), Hakeem Afolabi, Yomi Aliyu and Dr. Kayode Olatoke.
Addressing journalists after filing the petition, Dr Olatoke, who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said Eleka’s petition was a waste of time as it lacked substance and that the case would be dismissed by the tribunal.
He explained further that Fayemi won fair and square in 12 out of the 16 local government areas of the state, while Eleka won in four.
In his response to Eleka’s petition bordering on alleged over voting in some polling units, Olatoke dismissed this claim as frivolous and baseless.
He said Eleka’s first ground in his petition is based on incumbent Governor Ayodele Fayose’s indictment of Fayemi, which had been nullified and set aside by a competent court.
“The second ground of Eleka’s petition is alleged over voting, which is another false claim. In any case, the petition in itself is self-defeating.
“The third ground is on deliberate voiding of votes as alleged by Eleka but in actual fact, majority of the voided ballots were votes meant for Fayemi, while the fourth ground is on vote buying which is baseless as it was, Eleka’s sponsor, Fayose that was guilty of this.
“Fayemi won convincingly based on his popularity,” Olatoke said.
Other senior lawyers in the team representing Fayemi and the APC include Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), John Baiyeshe (SAN), Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN), Jelili Owonikoko (SAN) and Segun Ajibola (SAN).
No date has been fixed for hearing.
