TRIBUNAL: Adeleke heads to Appeal court

 

The Election Petition Tribunal in Osun State has declared Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) winner of the July 16 governorship election. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the poll. The tribunal, which heard Oyetola’s petition against Adeleke’s victory, on Friday annulled the result of the July 16 Osun governorship poll. Justice Tetsea Kume, while delivering a majority decision declared that INEC did not comply substantially with the constitution and the provisions of the Electoral Act. He subsequently deducted the over-voting observed from the votes scored by the candidates and declared that Oyetola won the election, having polled 314,921, while Adeleke’s score came down to 290,266. Justice Kume directed INEC to withdraw Adeleke’s certificate of return and issued another one to Oyetola who won a majority of the lawful votes. Meanwhile, the Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke, has described the judgement of the governorship election petitions tribunal as “a miscarriage of justice,” vowing to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal. Reacting to the verdict of the tribunal from his country home in Ede, Adeleke faulted the resolution of the over-voting question in favour of Oyetola, calling it “an unfair interpretation against the will of majority of voters.” While urging his supporters to remain calm, Adeleke vowed to appeal the judgement at the Court of Appeal, insisting he remained the rightful winner of the July 16 election. “I call on our people to remain calm. We will appeal the judgement and we are sure that justice will be done. Let our people be reassured that we will do everything possible to retain this widely acclaimed mandate,” the governor said in a statement signed by his spokesman, Olawale Rasheed, said yesterday. Reacting to the judgement, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Paul Ananaba, said the judgement could be upturned on appeal as it has a dissenting judgement, which makes it not unanimous. But Hameed Ajibola Jimoh, a lawyer, said the tribunal had the powers to, based on evidence before it, deduct the unlawful votes and declare the person with the majority of the lawful votes as winner. “The tribunal is right, except there are no reason or ground that the appellate would rely on to set it aside,” he said.

Adeleke and Oyetola