APC wins Saki West constituency rerun poll
Shittu Ibrahim of APC
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Saturday declared candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Shittu Ibrahim as winner of Saki West State Constituency rerun election for Oyo House of Assembly.
Shittu defeated his closest rival, Julius Okedoyin, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Shittu was earlier declared winner of the March 18, 2023 election by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
Shittu polled 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, over voting, and non-compliance.
In a unanimous 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.
However, 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 INEC to withdraw the certificate of return from Shittu.
In the rerun election, INEC returning officer, for Saki West State Assembly Professor Olusola Oyewo of the University of Ibadan declared Shittu Ibrahim Aremu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) as winner of the Saki West State Assembly Rerun Election having polled 13850 votes to beat his closest rival, Okedoyin Femi Julius of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who scored 13670 votes