The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate Olusola Eleka, have lost in their bid to cease power in Ekiti state through the judiciary after the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal affirmed the victory of Governor Kayode Fayemi at the July 14, 2018 gubernatorial election in the state.
Justice Stephen Adah led a three-man panel and they had a unanimous judgment which dismissed the appeal filed by the PDP and Governorship candidate Eleka. The PDP appeal was described as “unmeritorious”.
The Independent National Electoral Commission announced the candidate of the All Progressives Congress Fayemi winner of the July 14, 2018 election following a total of 197,459 votes to beat PDP’s Eleka who polled 178,121 votes.
However, the PDP and Eleka weren’t happy with the results and filed their petition before the Ekiti State Election Petition Tribunal which sat and delivered its judgment in Abuja.
The petitioners alleged among others in their petition that the election was marred by a lot of wrongs including non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
But the tribunal on January 28, 2019 dismissed their petition and affirmed the results declared by INEC. The petitioners further appealed to the Court of Appeal, raising seven issues against the judgment of the tribunal.
But delivering judgment, Justice Adah who gave only a summary of the Court of Appeal’s verdict on Thursday, resolved all the seven issues raised against the appellants and in favour of the respondents – Fayemi, INEC and APC.
The court, which had conducted a hearing on the appeal, earlier on Tuesday, dismissed the case in its judgment on Thursday for lacking in merit.
Justices Tinuade Akomolafe-Wilson and Emmanuel Agim, agreed with the lead judgment delivered by Justice Adah. 
Alex Akojah, the lawyer who led the petitioners’ team to court on Thursday, told journalists after the judgment was delivered that the legal team would need to be informed by their clients on whether or not they would appeal against the judgement to the Supreme Court.