Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko with Hon. Samuel Adesina (left), and other supporters at the governor's lodge
• Gov: It's a vindication of people's will
• NGF congratulates gov for victory
• Oke: It was a brazen defeat of expectations
Tobi Soniyi, Chuks Okocha in Abuja and James Sowole in Akure

The Supreme Court thursday affirmed the election of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko as the elected governor of Ondo State in the October 20, 2012 gubernatorial election.
Both the Ondo State Governorship Election Tribunal and the Court of Appeal had earlier upheld the governor’s victory over the candidate of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN) and Chief Olusola Oke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, who delivered the lead judgment in the case of Akeredolu, rejected the allegation of the ACN candidate that the voters’ register used for the poll was manipulated.
The apex court held that the governorship candidate failed to produce the alleged manipulated voters’ register in court and also failed to show whether the 100,000 voters allegedly injected into the voters’ register engaged in multiple voting or any other malpractices. Besides, the court held that Akeredolu could not substantiate how the alleged injection of new voters into the register substantially affected the election to warrant its cancellation as requested in his petition.
Justice Ngwuta held that even if the 100,000 voters allegedly injected into the register had voted and counted for the ACN candidate, he would still not have been declared winner because Mimiko floored him in the poll with over 100,000 votes. The court said Akeredolu’s claim on voters’ register manipulation was strange, having claimed in his petition that the voters’ register was not made available to him and was not published or displayed in the public.
The court, therefore, held that his petition was baseless having been founded on hearsay and was dismissed without any cost. Akeredolu had petitioned the election of Mimiko, asking that he be declared the winner because he scored the highest majority votes. In the alternative, he urged the court to cancel the election for a fresh one but the state election petition tribunal and the Court of Appeal had earlier dismissed the petition for lacking in merit prompting him to approach the apex court to reverse the two earlier judgments. In another judgment of the apex court yesterday delivered by Justice Mary Peter Odili, the petition of Olusola Oke of PDP was also dismissed.
Justice Odili held that the candidate of PDP failed to prove how the alleged illegal entry of new voters into the register used for the election affected the credibility of the election. The court further held that most of the complaints of the second appellant were criminal in nature which ought to have been referred to security agents for action. Supreme Court had had to break its yearly vacation temporarily to hear the case in order to beat the 60-day period allowed by the constitution for the determination of appeals on election matters. Reacting to the judgment, Mimiko described it as a vindication of his position that the people of the state actually voted for him during the election.
The governor, who addressed the people of the state at the Democracy Park in the heart of Akure, the state capital, said the victory was a call for him to serve the people of the state better. He said if the judgment had gone otherwise, it would have been a disservice to democracy in Nigeria because both the local and international observers had adjudged the election as the best in the country.
He commended the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Mukhtar for recalling the justices of the Supreme Court from vacation to hear the case and clear insinuations that would have arrived if the case had lapsed. “This is the first time in the 50 years of judiciary in Nigeria that the Supreme Court justices would be recalled from vacation to hear any case and one of the justices flew in from Australia because of the matter.
“The judgment had reaffirmed the confidence of Nigerians in the ability of the nation’s judiciary to act appropriately and timely because it would had been another thing if the case has lapsed,” he said. While calling on the people that contested against him to join hands with him in the task of moving the state forward, Mimiko said the job at hand is enormous and that any lover of the state should cooperate to do. Meanwhile, the Governor Chibuike Amaechi faction of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) has congratulated Mimiko over the Supreme Court ruling.
The forum, in a statement signed by the Director General, A.B. Asishana, said the ruling of the seven-man panel of the apex court led by Justice Walter Onoghene, was a landmark decision and a plus for the judiciary and the Nigerian democracy. According the forum, said, “The ruling of the judgment in this case shows that the Nigerian judiciary has indeed come of age.” The governors’ forum praised the Ondo State governor for standing firm and remaining undaunted while the case lasted and charged him to remain committed to the people and to ensure the delivery of true development through democracy to the people of the state. It also called on the Supreme Court to stay steadfast in anticipation of several other pre-election and post-election cases as the journey moved towards 2015.
However, dissatisfied with the judgment, Oke said the court's verdict has obviously prevented the mission of good governance he has for the people of the state. Oke, in a statement signed by him and made available to journalists said: “This final ruling marks the end of a titanic battle to challenge and invalidate the result of what we are convinced was a heavily compromised and highly flawed October 20 2012 governorship election."
“This Supreme Court judgment constitutes a brazen defeat of the expectations of the people of Ondo State who had desired light after four years of total darkness. It also demonstrates a serious shatter to the sensibilities of the people who had expected a lease from the shackles of poverty, want, disease, unemployment and frustration." While thanking his supporters and the entire PDP members in the state, Oke charged them to "keep the peace and walk tall through the rest of the days ahead,” he said.