Politics
Oyo Guber Poll: Makinde, Adelabu Know Fate, Today
Justice Suraju Muhammadu-led Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Iyaganku, Ibadan, Oyo State capital will, today deliver judgment on the petition filed by the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, against Governor Seyi Makinde of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The tribunal had on August 23 reserved judgment on the petition dated March 29, 2019 following the adoption of final written addresses by the two parties in the petition.
The tribunal also has Justices Musa Bazza and Elizabeth Orji as members.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had returned Governor Makinde as winner of the March 9, 2019 governorship poll, having scored 515,621 votes to defeat Adelabu, who polled 357,982 votes. Adelabu was a deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The results of the election as announced by INEC showed that Makinde won the election in 28 out of the 33 Local Government Areas of the state, while Adelabu won in the remaining five Local Government Areas.
The petitioners in the case with suit number EPT/OY/Gov/01/2019 are: Adelabu and APC, while the respondents are INEC, Makinde and PDP as first, second and third respondents, respectively.
The petitioners during the proceedings called 69 witnesses and tendered 4,166 documents before the panel and the documents were admitted as evidences. The petitioners asked the tribunal to nullify the declaration of Makinde as winner of the election and instead declare them as winner.
The respondents, through their counsel, also told the panel to dismiss the petition in its entirety, and uphold Makinde’s election as declared by INEC, having called evidences and tendered documents.
Adelabu, who was in the court during the adoption of final written addresses, told journalists after the court proceedings: “The petitioners have shown to the whole world that there were lots of infractions during the March 9, 2019 governorship election in the state and victory shall be ours and our party will come back to Adebayo Adelabu and my able deputy (Samuel Egunjobi).”
“We have done all that is required of us to contest the gubernatorial election, and we’re the most popular candidate, and party with the track record because people voted for us,” he said.
Also speaking with journalists, Assistant Organising Secretary of the PDP in the state, Mr Biodun Popoola, said: “I was in court and with the presentation of our counsel, I am optimistic that we will be victorious because you don’t change what God has established.
Prof. Amupitan gave the warning on Saturday, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during the South-South Zonal Readiness Assessment and Interactive Staff Engagement organised ahead of the 2027 general elections.
He said insecurity remained a potential challenge to the electoral process but stressed that the Commission would not allow threats against its personnel to undermine its constitutional responsibilities.
“Insecurity may pose a challenge, but our collective constitutional resolve is far stronger. Let me again send a clear message from Port Harcourt: anyone who attempts to threaten, intimidate, or harm our ad-hoc staff, NYSC members, or permanent personnel will be brought to justice under the full weight of the law,” he said.
The INEC Chairman, who was accompanied by National Commissioners, directors and technical aides, disclosed that the South-South engagement was the fifth in a series of zonal assessments, following similar exercises in the South-West, North-West, South-East and North-East.
He explained that his physical presence across the geopolitical zones reflected the Commission’s field-first approach, emphasising that electoral integrity must be established through effective operations at the grassroots.
According to him, the assessment would cover operational preparedness across the 123 Local Government Areas in the six South-South states.
On election security, Prof. Amupitan said INEC had moved away from reactive security arrangements traditionally activated around election day to a proactive, intelligence-driven framework known as the “ICCES Tentacle”.
He explained that the framework was designed to extend inter-agency security coordination from national and state headquarters to local government areas and Registration Area Centres, including remote communities.
He identified three critical pillars of the framework as mapping and mitigating security threats, protecting electoral personnel and infrastructure, and guaranteeing safe access to polling units.
The INEC boss said the security arrangement would provide comprehensive protection for electoral personnel, technological infrastructure, including Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) devices and server infrastructure, as well as voters.
He added that the framework was intended to ensure that every polling unit, irrespective of its geographical location or history of security challenges, remained safe and accessible for the exercise of democratic rights.
Prof. Amupitan disclosed that the South-South security architecture comprised approximately 60 major operational formations, headquarters and state commands operating under the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES).
The network, he said, brings together military, naval, air, police and other security and intelligence agencies across the six states.
“Together, this integrated multi-agency network represents the operational backbone that guarantees intelligence-led protection across every riverine creek, coastal axis, and land-based polling unit in the Niger Delta,” he stated.
Providing an overview of the region’s electoral significance, the INEC Chairman said the South-South had the fourth-largest voting bloc in the country, with 15,823,550 registered voters, representing 15.30 per cent of the national register.
Rivers State alone, he said, accounts for 3,736,434 registered voters spread across the 23 local government areas.
Alhaji Abubakar made the demand following revelations that some INEC registration officers allegedly abused their access to the voter registration system to introduce irregular records into the database.
In a statement issued by his Director of Strategic Communications, Mr Phrank Shaibu, the former vice-president described the development as a serious breach of the Commission’s internal safeguards and raised concerns about the integrity of the electoral process.
He urged INEC to identify the officials implicated in the alleged misconduct and explain what disciplinary or legal measures had been taken against them.
Alhaji Abubakar also called for an independent forensic audit of the preliminary voters’ register to establish the scale of the alleged manipulation, identify affected records and determine how the questionable entries were introduced into the system.
He further insisted that INEC preserve all relevant voter records, image files, system access logs and electronic audit trails to prevent the destruction or alteration of evidence before an independent examination could be conducted.
The former vice-president also demanded that the Commission disclose the identities of companies contracted to produce sensitive election materials ahead of the 2027 polls, arguing that transparency was essential to building public confidence in the electoral process.
INEC’s Director of Information and Communication Technology, Dr Lawrence Bayode, had earlier disclosed during a television interview that some registration officers across the country allegedly used their official login credentials to introduce irregularities into the voters’ database.
Dr Bayode explained that the Commission’s Automated Biometric Identification System helped identify questionable records and establish how some irregularities entered the system.
He, however, clarified that not all suspicious photographs were AI-generated, as some resulted from poor registration procedures.
The development followed public concerns over suspected AI-generated photographs, alleged duplicate entries and other inconsistencies discovered in the preliminary voters’ register published online on October 26, 2026.
INEC has maintained that the published document is a preliminary register and that it is reviewing questionable records ahead of the certification of the final Register of Voters.
The controversy has intensified calls for greater transparency and accountability in the management of the voters’ register as preparations gather momentum for the 2027 general elections.
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