Why Supreme Court Affirms Makinde, El-Rufai As Duly Elected Governors

The Supreme Court on Wednesday affirmed the election of Oluseyi Makinde as duly elected governor of Oyo state as well as that of Nasir El-Rufai as Kaduna State governor.

A seven-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Mary Peter-Odili, unanimously affirmed Makinde as the duly elected governor of Oyo State.

Giving a summary of the lead judgment, Justice Ejembi upheld Makinde’s appeal and overturned the November 11, 2019 judgment of the Ibadan Division of the Court of Appeal which had partly ruled in favour of the All Progressives Congress and its governorship candidate, Adebayo Adelabu.

In upturning the Court of Appeal’s majority judgment of four against one, the apex court restored the judgment of the Oyo State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal which had declared Makinde and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party, the winner of the election.

According to Punch report, the apex court held that its decision in Makinde’s appeal would be binding on all the other appeals filed in respect of the Oyo State governorship election.

Similarly, Justice Centus Nweze, in his ruling held that the appeal filed by Mr Isa Ashiru of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the election of El-Rufai is lacking in merit and it is therefore dismissed.