It appears that the battle for the soul of Osun State will continue to rage as the two contenders, incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke and the immediate past governor of the state, Isiaka Gboyega Oyetola, hope to finally resolve the issue of who occupies the Abere Governor’s Office for the next four years at the Supreme Court.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, on Friday, set aside the State Election Petition Tribunal’s judgment that nullified the election of Ademola Adeleke as governor of Osun State.
The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, led by Justice Mohammed Lawal, held that the appeal lodged by Adeleke to challenge his sack by the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal was meritorious.
The court also held that the sum of N500, 000 is awarded as a cost against the All Progressive Congress, APC, and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.
Delivering judgment, Justice Mohammed Shaibu overruled the judgment of the governorship election tribunal that nullified the outcome of the July 2022 governorship poll in Osun.
During the ruling, the justices resolved that the preponderance of proof that there was over-voting in the elections rested on the petitioner.
The court also maintained that “the party alleging non-compliance with the Electoral Act must prove its case without merely relying on the weakness of the other party.”
The three-man panel revoked the tribunal’s order which directed that a Certificate of Return be withdrawn from Adeleke and issued to his predecessor and All Progressives Congress candidate, Oyetola.
The appellate court had earlier reserved judgement in the appeal after parties in the matter adopted their written addresses and announced that the date for the judgement will be communicated to parties.
It would be recalled that the Justice Tertsea Kume-led three-member panel tribunal, had on January 27, in a split decision of two-to-one, voided the declaration of Adeleke as winner of the governorship election that held on July 16, 2022.
In the majority judgement, the tribunal upheld a petition filed by the former governor of the state, Gboyega Oyetola of the APC, who came second in the election.
It held that Adeleke did not score the majority of lawful votes, adding that the conduct of the election did not substantially comply with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
According to the tribunal, the petitioners, Oyetola and APC, successfully established that there was over voting in 744 polling units in the state.
After deducting the said invalid votes, the tribunal declared Oyetola winner of the Governorship contest and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return it earlier issued to Adeleke.
However, in his dissenting judgement, the third member of the panel, Justice P. Agbuli, affirmed Adeleke as the valid winner of the election and struck out the petition that was lodged by Oyetola and the APC.
Dissatisfied with the majority decision that sacked him from office, Adeleke took the case before the Court of Appeal.
In his 31 grounds of appeal, Adeleke maintained that the decision was a nullity, pointing out that the second member of the panel, Justice Rabi Bashir, failed to render her opinion on the petition, either orally or in writing, but merely appended her signature on the judgement.
“The second member of the lower tribunal could not have validly signed the decision of the chairman of the lower tribunal without an opinion,” he argued.
Adeleke, through his team of lawyers led by Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) further contended that the tribunal decided the matter without considering the totality of evidence that was adduced before it.
Adeleke accused the panel of exhibiting its bias when it left the substance of the case and made reference to his dancing skill and noted that the tribunal, in the majority judgement, held that he could not “go lo lo lo lo” and “buga won” as the duly elected governor of Osun state.
“The tribunal, in its judgment, erred in law and displayed bias against the appellant when it made reference to the appellant’s dance at his inauguration as governor of Osun State,” which was never an issue before the lower tribunal, Adeleke’s lawyers opined.
Ademola Adeleke, who carried the banner of the PDP won the July 16, 2022 governorship election in Osun State with 403,371 representing 50.14 per cent of the total votes while the then incumbent governor, Gboyega Oyetola scored 375,027 representing 46.62 percent of the total votes.
Adeleke had also led the PDP to victory in the February 25 presidential election where the PDP Candidate, Atiku Abubakar won with 354,366 votes to defeat his closest rival, Bola Tinubu of the APC, who scored 343,945 votes.
The PDP also won all the three senatorial district and the entire House of Representatives slots in the national assembly election held on the same date.
The party won 25 out of 26 state assembly results released by the INEC.
In his reaction to the Friday judgement, the PDP Chairman in Osun State, Dr Akindele Adekunle called on the former governor, Gboyega Oyetola to formally congratulate Adeleke and joined him in the task of transforming the state.
He said there was no need for Oyetola to go to the Supreme Court to challenge the decision of the Appeal Court.
Expressing his satisfaction with the judgement, Adekunle said the results of the last elections had showed that Osun is for the PDP.
AYO ESAN, has been actively reporting and analyzing political events for different newspapers for over 18 years. He has also successfully covered national and state elections in Nigeria since the inception of this democracy in 1999.
