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The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has set aside the decision of the Osun State Governorship Tribunal and has upheld the election of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the governor of the state.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate did not receive the majority of valid votes at the state’s July 16 governorship elections, according to an Election Petition Tribunal, which removed Adeleke from office.
The Court of Appeal overturned the tribunal’s decision, upholding Adeleke as the legitimate governor of Osun State, in a unanimous decision by a three-person panel chaired by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu.
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The Appeal Court Panel overturned the tribunal’s directive that an All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and Adeleke’s predecessor, Gboyega Oyetola, receive a Certificate of Return instead of Adeleke.
The panel determined that the Osun State Tribunal’s assertion that there was excessive voting was incorrect since it simply relied on Oyetola and the APC’s evidence and, as a result, did not in any way advance their position.
The judge criticized Oyetola and the APC, saying that they could not support their claims of excessive voting since they solely relied on information from the back-end server and ignored the voters register, which is the basis for the entire election process.
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. The court also awarded the sum of N500,000 against the All Progressive Congress, and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.
