Appeal Court upholds Adeleke as winner of Osun governorship election

INEC on Sunday, July 17 declared PDP candidate Adeleke as the Osun State governorship election winner.

But the Osun tribunal annulled the election of Adeleke and declared Oyetola the winner.

Justice Tetsea Kume, while delivering a majority decision, declared that the Independent National Electoral Commission (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.

The judge directed INEC to withdraw Adeleke’s certificate of return and issued another one to Oyetola who won a majority of the lawful votes.

The Court of Appeal, however, on Friday annulled the tribunal’s decision and upheld Adeleke as the rightful governor of Osun State in a unanimous decision by a three-man panel headed by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu.

The appellate court also upheld the issue of BVAS raised against Oyetola, stating that the Osun State tribunal was wrong to have said that there was overvoting, a claim that only relied on the evidence provided by Oyetola and the APC and, as such, doesn’t prove their case in any way.