Anxiety As Supreme Court Delivers Judgment On Osun Guber

ABUJA–The Supreme Court has fixed Tuesday to deliver its judgement on an appeal seeking to sack Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State from office.

A five-man panel of Justices of the apex court adjourned to resolve the legal dispute sorrounding the governorship election that held in the state on July 16, 2022.

It will be recalled that the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had on January 27, in a split decision, voided the declaration of Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as winner of the gubernatorial election.

The Justice Tertsea Kume-led three-member panel tribunal, in its majority verdict, upheld a petition that was brought before it by the former governor of the state, Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who came second in the election.

It held that Adeleke did not score the majority of lawful votes, adding that the conduct of the election was not in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

According to the tribunal, the petitioners, Oyetola and APC, successfully established that there was over voting in 744 polling units in the state.

After deducting the said invalid votes, the tribunal declared Oyetola as winner of the governorship contest, even as it directed the INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return it earlier issued to Adeleke.

However, in his dissenting judgement, the third member of the panel, Justice P. Ogbuli, affirmed Adeleke as the valid winner of the election, even as he struck out the petition that was lodged by Oyetola and the APC.

Meanwhile, following an appeal that was lodged by Adeleke and the PDP, the Court of Appeal, on March 24, reversed the judgment of the tribunal.

The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of Justices, held that there was merit in Adeleke’s appeal.

Aside from setting aside the judgement of the tribunal, the court, in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, awarded a cost of N500, 000 against the APC and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.

Dissatisfied with the judgement, both Oyetola and the APC took the matter before the Supreme Court which adjourned the case for judgement after all the parties adopted their final briefs of argument.

Source: Vanguard

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