Accord Party Candidate Opeyemi Falegan to Challenge Ekiti Election Results

The Accord Party governorship candidate in the June 20 Ekiti State election, Opeyemi Falegan, has announced his intention to challenge the victory of Governor Biodun Oyebanji at the Election Petition Tribunal.

Mr. Falegan, who placed fifth in the contest, formally instructed his legal team to initiate a petition against the governor and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). He alleged that the electoral process was compromised by widespread irregularities, including vote-buying, voter intimidation, and significant malfunctions of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS).

In a statement released on Sunday, the candidate asserted that his legal team is currently compiling extensive documentary evidence to support his claims. He alleged that his party’s logo was omitted from ballot papers in various polling units and that votes cast in his favor were deliberately excluded during the collation process.

“The evidence is overwhelming,” Mr. Falegan stated, citing discrepancies between the figures recorded on Forms EC8A, EC8B, and EC8C. He further alleged that some electoral officials violated the Electoral Act of 2022 by failing to count or record votes allocated to the Accord Party. His planned submission to the tribunal includes video footage, photographic evidence, error logs from accreditation devices, and sworn statements from party agents and observers.

The challenge follows the official declaration of Governor Oyebanji as the winner by the INEC Chief Returning Officer, Adenike Oladiji. According to the final results, the Governor secured 319,224 votes, significantly outpacing his closest rivals from the Peoples Democratic Party and the African Democratic Congress.

While the official results have been declared, the election has faced scrutiny from various civil society organizations. Observer groups, including Yiaga Africa and the Centre for Democracy and Development, previously flagged concerns regarding the functionality of voter accreditation devices and reports of vote-buying during the exercise.

With multiple candidates now raising objections to the process, the matter is set to be decided by the judicial process as the aggrieved parties seek to contest the outcome of the polls.