Ladoja floors Ajimobi

Former governor of Oyo State and guber­natorial candidate of the Accord Party for the 2015 general elections in the state, Rashidi Ladoja, yesterday floored the state governor, Abiola Ajimobi, in the first round of ruling at the governorship election peti­tion tribunal.

The Panel Chairman, Justice Mohammed Mayaki, supported by Justices Muhammadu Ka­raye and J.E. Ikede, dismissed the motions by Governor Aji­mobi and the All Progressives Congress (APC) that prayed the tribunal to strike out Ladoja’s petition against Ajimobi.

Ladoja, and his party – Ac­cord, had dragged Ajimobi, APC, the state Resident Elec­toral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Rufus Akeju and the Indepen­dent National Electoral Com­mission (INEC) over the result of the April 11, 2015 governor­ship poll.

The lead counsel to Ajimobi, Chief Wole Olanipekun(SAN) and APC lead counsel, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), had filed the motion before the panel on the grounds that the petition­ers’ motion dated July 3, 2015, was not signed by a known or identifiable counsel. They also asked the tribunal to take each objections raised against the pe­tition separately.

The tribunal said it looked into the motion with the two issues raised in it, before the ruling was delivered. The first motion sought to determine whether the petition was signed by the petitioners’ counsel, while the second objections prayed the panel to take the ob­jections one after another.