How Adeleke floored Oyetola, APC at Appeal, Supreme Courts to seal victory as Osun Governor
The legal tussle around the 2022 Osun State governorship election has finally been rested today (Tuesday, May 9, 2023) after the Supreme Court verdict affirming Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as duly elected Governor of the state.
However, what ended at the Supreme Court today started from the Tribunal to the Appeal Court.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on March 24 set aside the decision of the Osun State Governorship Tribunal earlier sacking Adeleke as Governor of the state.
Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had returned Adeleke as the winner of the poll July 16 2022 governorship election in the state.
INEC said Adeleke polled 403,371 votes to defeat then incumbent Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC, who got 375,027 votes.
Tribunal journey
But Oyetola and the APC rejected the result of the poll and headed for the tribunal.
In its January 27, 2023 majority verdict, the Justice Tertse Kume-led tribunal annulled Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner of the poll.
However, a minority judgment by Justice B. Ogbuli affirmed Adeleke as the winner of the poll.
Appeal Court journey
Displeased, Adeleke and the PDP headed for the Court of Appeal.
The Court of Appeal heard the appeal on March 13 and reserved its judgment.
However, in a unanimous agreement on Friday by a three-man panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, the Court of Appeal quashed the tribunal’s judgement and gave its verdict to uphold Adeleke as rightful governor of Osun State.
The panel held that the Osun State Tribunal was wrong to have said that there was over voting, a claim that only relied on the evidence by Oyetola and the APC, and as such, doesn’t prove their case in any way.
The judge faulted Oyetola and APC, that they only relied on the data from the back end server and failed to look at the voters register which forms the foundation of the whole electoral process and as such, cannot strengthen their allegations of over voting.
Court awards N500,000 against Oyetola, APC
On the issue of jurisdiction, the court resolved in favour of Adeleke stating that according to section 285(8) of the constitution as amended, the court has every right to entertain the appeal.
Aside from setting aside the judgement of the tribunal, the court, in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Mohammed Lawal, awarded N500, 000 cost against the All Progressive Congress, APC, and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.
Today’s Supreme Court verdict
However, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (today) set aside the appeal by Oyetola challenging the election of Adeleke as Governor.
The apex court, in its judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, also upheld the Appeal Court’s judgment which upheld the election of Adeleke as the state governor.
The apex court held that the appellant failed to adduce enough evidence to prove his allegation of over voting in the July 16, 2022 governorship poll.
The judgment was affirmed and adopted by the entire five members of the panel.
According to all the members of the panel, the appeal lacked merit.
