Tuesday, 09 May 2023 15:07

Supreme Court affirms Adeleke as winner of Osun gov election

Rate this item
(0 votes)

The Supreme Court has affirmed election of Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, sealing his victory over then incumbent governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, in the keenly contested 16 July 2022 election in the state.

The judgement of a five-member panel, on Tuesday, upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal in Abuja which had earlier on 24 March affirmed Adeleke’s victory.

It lays to rest the dispute over the outcome of the governorship election, and extinguishes Oyetola’s hopes of coming back to office after his momentary victory at the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in January.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the election in an upset that deprived Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) a second term in office.

Displeased with INEC’s result, Oyetola had approached the election petition tribunal in Osogbo, the state capital, to challenge the outcome of the poll.

The tribunal in its decision  in January ruled in favour of Oyetola by declaring him winner of the election, and sacking Adeleke who was just months in office.

Adeleke, who remained in office to exhaust his right of appeal, had appealed against the decision of the tribunal.

His appeal was successful.

Upholding Adeleke’s victory, the Court of Appeal in Abuja held that the tribunal was wrong in its conclusion that that the election in some parts of the state was marred by over-voting, the pivotal legal issue on which Oyetola built his case.

The court held that “the burden of proving the allegations of over-voting lies squarely with the respondents Oyetola and the APC).”

“It is inconceivable to assume that the testimonies of the respondents’ witnesses had any probative value,” the appellate court held.

The Court of Appeal noted that Oyetola and the APC “did not tender the voter registers and Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS machines,” which captured data of eligible voters at the Osun governorship election.

“Though the 1st and 2nd respondents (Oyetola and APC) relied on BVAS reports obtained from INEC to prove over-voting, they did not, nonetheless, call petitioner’s witness 1 to speak to the reports, that is, Exhibits BVR reports from INEC’s back-end server.

“In their pleadings,” Oyetola and APC “alleged that the results recorded and transmitted directly from the polling units were not taken into account and therefore accredited voters recorded in Form EC8A from the disputed polling units do not tally with the number of BVAS for the same polling units.

“Strangely, the tribunal, in its judgment, only relied on the table set out in an address of counsel to hold that over voting occured in an election,” the Court of Appeal said.

 

PT

May 23, 2025

FG earns 52 kobo from every N1 made by Dangote Cement – Aliko Dangote

Aliko Dangote, Chairman of the Dangote Group, has stated that the Federal Government earns 52…
May 12, 2025

Northern leaders demand urgent action on insecurity, push for state police

Amid worsening insecurity across Nigeria, the 19 Northern governors and traditional rulers have called for…
May 23, 2025

The strongest leaders avoid these 5 management mistakes

Stefan Grigorov Key Takeaways People, not tools, drive innovation in the age of AI. Consensus…
May 17, 2025

Woman files for divorce after ChatGPT read husband’s affair in coffee cup

A Greek woman decided to divorce her husband of 12 years after ChatGPT told her…
May 23, 2025

Bandits kill two soldiers, others in attacks on Benue community

Suspected bandits have killed four people, including two soldiers, in an attack on Ijaha Ikobi,…
May 23, 2025

Here’s the latest as Israel-Hamas war enters Day 595

Aid trucks enter Gaza after delays, as pressure mounts on Israel Israel allowed 100 aid…
May 11, 2025

African diet – plantains and cassava can be as healthy as tomatoes and olive oil,…

Plantains, cassava and fermented banana drink should be added to global healthy eating guidelines alongside…
May 13, 2025

Nigeria's Flying Eagles qualify for World Cup after dramatic win over Senegal

Nigeria's U-20 national football team, the Flying Eagles, have secured their place at the 2025…

NEWSSCROLL TEAM: 'Sina Kawonise: Publisher/Editor-in-Chief; Afolabi Ajibola: IT Manager;
Contact Us: [email protected] Tel/WhatsApp: +234 811 395 4049

Copyright © 2015 - 2025 NewsScroll. All rights reserved.