May 09, (THEWILL) – The Supreme Court on Tuesday, affirmed the election of Senator Ademola Adeleke, as governor of Osun State.
The apex court dismissed the appeal filed by former governor, Gboyega Oyetola, challenging the declaration of Adeleke as the winner of the July 16 gubernatorial Poll.
A five-member panel of the Court in its judgement, led by Justice Kenneth Okoro, agreed substantially with the Court of Appeal which ruled that a majority judgement delivered at the tribunal was a nullity.
THEWILL reports that the Osun State’s Election Petition Tribunal had on January 27, 2023, sacked Senator Adeleke as governor of the state citing overvoting in 744 polling units in the state.
The Justice Tertsea Kume-led three-member panel tribunal, had in a split decision of two-to-one, voided the declaration of Adeleke by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as winner of the July 16, 2022 governorship poll.
A majority judgement of the tribunal, held that Adeleke did not score the majority of lawful votes. It added that the conduct of the election was not in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
According to the tribunal, the petitioners, Oyetola and APC, successfully established that there was overvoting in 744 polling units in the state.
Justice Kume, who read the majority judgement, had said the excess votes were deducted following which Oyetola won the election. According to Justice Kume, having deducted the over-voting figure, Oyetola scored 314,921, while Ademola polled 290,266 votes
However, dissatisfied with the ruling, Adeleke in a 31 grounds of appeal, prayed the Court of Appeal for “an order setting aside the whole decision of the tribunal.”
The governor equally sought, “an order striking out the petition for want of competence and jurisdiction or in the alternative, an order dismissing the petition on the merit.
Adeleke, had through his team of lawyers led by Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), contended that the tribunal decided the matter without considering the totality of evidence that was adduced before it.
He 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.
However, delivering judgement on the appeal, a three-member panel of the court, led by Justice Mohammed F. Shuaibu, reinstated Adeleke as duly elected governor of Osun State.
The court, in a unanimous decision, held that there was merit in Adeleke’s appeal. It also awarded a cost of N500,000 against the APC and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.
Dissatisfied with the judgement, both Oyetola and the APC took the matter before the Supreme Court.
