Tribunal Judgment: Appeal Court begins hearing in Adeleke’s case
The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal on Monday commenced sitting in an appeal filed by Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against a judgment of the governorship election tribunal, which invalidated his victory in the Osun gubernatorial poll.
The three-member panel of justices led by Justice M.F. Shuaibu began sitting in the appeal at about 10:00 a.m.
Gboyeag Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress (APC) are the first and second respondents in the appeal marked CA/AK/EPT/GOV/01/2023.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the PDP are joined as third and fourth respondents.
The tribunal had, on January 27, voided the July 16, 2022, election that produced Mr Adeleke as the elected governor.
INEC declared Mr Adeleke the election winner after polling 403,371 votes. He was said to have won in 17 of Osun’s 30 local government areas.
But the panel led by Justice Terste Kume, in its judgment, invalidated the election and declared Mr Oyetola as the valid winner of the poll.
The tribunal directed INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Mr Adeleke and his deputy, Kola Adewusi, ordering that Mr Oyetola should be issued a certificate of return instead.
Mr Kume held that the governorship election was not held in compliance with Nigeria’s Electoral Act.
The tribunal also held that the governorship election was characterised by overvoting. It said after deducting the excessive votes, the figure Mr Oyetola polled at the election was 314,921.
Thus, the tribunal ordered that Mr Oyetola be returned as governor of Osun.
INEC, in its earlier results, said Mr Oyetola won in 13 LGAs with 375,027 votes in the governorship election.
In his petition, Mr Oyetola, former governor of Osun, alleged that the election was characterised by overvoting in 749 polling units. He also argued that Mr Adeleke forged the academic credentials he submitted to NEC to contest for the election.
The tribunal commenced sitting in August 2022, a few weeks after the governorship election.
(NAN)
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