The newly sworn-in Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has been sacked by the Osun State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal as Governor of the state.
The tribunal, on Friday January 27th 2023 in its ruling in Osogbo, declared Gboyega Oyetola, the flagbearer of the All Progressives Congress (APC), as the validly elected governor of the state.
The Court’s judgement annulled the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which gave victory in the 16 June 2022 election to Adeleke, fondly called the dancing Senator, null and void.
The Tribunal directed INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and his Deputy, Kola Adewusi.
The Panel led by Justice Terste Kume directed that the certificate of return should instead be issued to Oyetola of APC.
Justice Kume held that the governorship election was not held in compliance with Nigeria’s Electoral Act.
The tribunal held that the governorship election was characterized by over-voting. It said after deducting the excessive votes, the figure Oyetola polled at the election was 314, 921.
The Tribunal, ordered that Oyetola should be returned as governor of Osun State.
Adeleke had been declared the winner with a total of 403,371 votes. He won in 17 of the 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state while Oyetola of the APC won in the remaining 13 LGAs with 375,027 votes
Fifteen candidates contested for the governorship election but it was keenly contested between Mr Adeleke and Mr Oyetola.
In his petition, Mr Oyetola, the immediate past governor of the state, claimed that the election was characterized by over-voting in 749 polling units.
He also argued that Mr Adeleke forged the academic credentials he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest for the election.
Adeleke is expected to appeal the ruling of the tribunal and will remain in office pending the final determination of the matter by superior courts.
The Tribunal commenced sitting in August 2022, a few weeks after the governorship election.
Oyetola and the APC are petitioners in the case with Lateef Fagbemi and Akin Olujimi as their lead counsel.
INEC is the first defendant, Mr Adeleke the second defendant and PDP the third defendant.
Paul Ananaba is the counsel to INEC, Alex Iziyon is the counsel to PDP and Onyechi Ikpeazu is the counsel to Mr Adeleke. All the counsel are senior advocates.
It would be recall that Adeleke, the candidate of PDP was sworn in as the Governor of Osun state on November 27, 2022.
Credit: National Accord& Premium Times
