Judgement by the Supreme Court on the matter, tomorrow, draws the curtain on Osun Election case.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Supreme Court has fixed Tuesday, May 9, for judgment in the appeal filed by former Osun Governor, Gboyega Oyetola against the election of Ademola Adeleke.
Oyetola is seeking the reversal of the March 25 judgment of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which affirmed Adeleke’s victory in the last governorship election in Osun State.
The Appeal Court had, in its judgement, set aside an earlier judgment by the Osun Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which held in favour of Oyetola and removed Ademola Adeleke.
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A five-member panel of the Supreme Court announced the date after taking arguments from lawyers to parties on Monday.
The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja had in March, quashed the decision of the Osun State Governorship tribunal and upheld the election of Ademola Adeleke.
In its judgment a three-member panel of the appellate court, presided over by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, held that Gboyega Oyetola and his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) – listed as the first and second respondents – failed to prove their allegation of over voting before the election tribunal.
The judgment was on the appeal filed by Adeleke, marked: CA/AK/EPT/GOV/01/2023.
In August 2022, Oyetola, and the APC petitioned the tribunal to challenge the election victory of Adeleke.
Among several issues, Oyetola contended that there was over-voting in 749 polling units across 10 local government areas of the state.
The Justice Tetse Kume-led panel in its judgement had there was over-voting on the examination of Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) manipulation.
The tribunal declared that the electoral body, INEC should withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Adeleke and issue the same to Oyetola.
The majority judgement which was read by the Chairman, Justice Kume said Oyetola got the majority of lawful votes of 314,931 while Adeleke had 219,666.
Not pleased with the tribunal ruling, Adeleke approached the Appellate Court to dismiss the tribunal judgement and faulted the resolution of the over-voting question in favour of his predecessor, calling it “an unfair interpretation against the will of majority of voters”. Appeal Court validated Adeleke’s election in March.
The judgement by the Supreme Court on the matter, tomorrow, draws the curtain on the case.
