According to Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the governorship election it held in Ekiti State on June 18 was free, fair, credible, and carried out in accordance with international best practises.
The election was conducted in accordance with the Electoral Act and election procedures, according to the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Dr. Adeniran Tella.
Tella claimed that the commission was unaware of vote buying, as claimed by the petitioners, and added that there was no figure inflation in any of the units where the election was conducted. Tella was represented by the Deputy Director and Head of Operations, Ekiti INEC Office, Mr. Temitope Oluwaseun Aina.
The INEC chief, who was summoned by subpoena to give evidence at the tribunal, while under cross-examination by counsel for the respondents, affirmed that the total number of votes cast and collated by the electoral agency during the Ekiti governorship poll corresponded with the number of voters accredited.
The witness said the Bimodal Voters Authentication System (BVAS) machines used to accredit voters functioned well and perfectly and were not compromised during the poll, adding that there was no manual collation and indiscriminate recording at any of the polling units.
Chief Segun Oni, who lost the governorship election and his party, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), who are the 1st and 2nd petitioners, are before the tribunal challenging the result declared by INEC, which returned Mr Biodun Oyebanji, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the winner of the election.
Respondents in the petition are Governor-elect Oyebanji (1st), APC (2nd), Alhaji Mai Mala Buni (3rd), INEC (4th) and Deputy Governor-elect Mrs Monisade Afuye (5th).