On Tuesday in Abuja, the Supreme Court declared Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the duly elected governor of Osun State.
It could be recalled that Adeleke defeated the incumbent governor, who is of the All Progressive Congress, Goyega Oyetola.
Refusing to accept his defeat, Oyetola and the APC approached the election petition tribunal for Osun to challenge the victory of Adeleke on the ground that there was over voting.
On January 27, Justice Tertsea Kume, led by the tribunal, voided, in a split decision of two-to-one, the declaration of Adeleke as the winner of the governorship election held on July 16, 2022.
However, Adeleke approached the Court of Appeal, and his electorate mandate was restored; nonetheless, the APC candidate went on to the Supreme Court to seek to set aside the ruling that declared the PDP candidate governor of the state.
Oyetola and APC, in turn, filed a case to the Supreme Court on behalf of their lead counsel, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), and want the apex court to determine whether the appellate court was right “in declaring as nullity the judgment of the tribunal delivered on January 27 notwithstanding the earlier resolution of the same court that Section 294(1) of the Constitution is inapplicable to a tribunal”.
In today’s ruling, the Supreme Court, which affirmed that Adeleke’s appeal was meritorious and allowed it, held that the lower tribunal was “wrong to reach the conclusion that there was over-voting during the state governorship election held on July 16, 2022.”
Justice Mohamed Lawal Shuaibu, who delivered the unanimous judgment, held that “the lower tribunal was wrong to have come to the conclusion of overvoting based on the document presented by the first and second respondents (Oyetola and APC) and also on Exhibit BVR, which requires demonstration in public court”.
The Court of Appeal noted that Oyetola and the APC “did not tender the voters’ registers and Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) machines,” which captured data of eligible voters at the Osun governorship election, and held that the foundation of what transpired at the polling units would only be established by the evidence that is contained in the voter register and BVAS machines, which are the foundation of any election.
Aside from setting aside the judgment of the lower tribunal, the appellate court awarded N500,000 in costs against the APC and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.
