Ayuba Sanusi
THE Court of Appeal Abuja has set aside the decision of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal and has upheld the election of Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In a unanimous decision by the three-man panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, the Court of Appeal quashed the tribunal’s judgment and gave its verdict to uphold Adeleke as the rightful governor of Osun State.
Justice Shaibu-led panel, while delivering its judgment earlier today in Abuja, held that the 2022 election petition tribunal erred in law by basing its verdict on over-voting on the table solely presented by the petitioners, stating that the petitioners did not prove their cases on over-voting.
The appellate court panel revoked the tribunal’s order which directed that a Certificate of Return be withdrawn from Adeleke and issued to his predecessor and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.
“The tribunal was wrong to have admitted and relied on the table presented by the petitioner. The tribunal was wrong to have annulled the election.”
The justices 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.
On the issue of jurisdiction, the court resolved in favour of Adeleke stating that according to Section 285(8) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the court has every right to entertain the appeal.
On the issue of bias against Justice Tertsea Kume, the appellate court held that Ademola Adeleke was unable to prove its case against the judge, adding that the “buga and lo lo lol” reference in the judgment has no relevance to its interpretation.
The court also awarded the sum of N500,000 against the APC, and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.
It will be recalled that the Justice Tertsea Kume-led tribunal has on 27th January declared Governor Adegboyega Oyetola as the winner of the polls held on 16th July 2022.
Eighteen-Eleven Media