The Supreme Court had confirmed Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the rightful governor of Osun State.
In the judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, an appeal lodged by Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Adeleke’s election victory was dismissed. The court held that Oyetola had failed to provide evidence of over-voting, and did not produce the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) to prove his allegation.
According to the Supreme Court in its judgment,it stated that “since the BVAS contains a record of accredited voters, it is the only direct and primary record of voters accredited at polling units on election day. The court noted that nothing in either Section 47 of the Electoral Act 2022 or Regulations 18-23 of INEC’s Regulations made it mandatory for presiding officers to transmit the number of accredited voters to the backend server using BVAS. Evidence of purported expert witnesses who testified in Oyetola’s favour was dismissed”
Recall that the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had earlier voided the declaration of Adeleke as the winner of the gubernatorial election.
In its majority verdict, the tribunal upheld a petition brought before it by Oyetola, who had come second in the election.
The tribunal held that Adeleke did not score the majority of lawful votes and that the conduct of the election was not in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act 2022. However, in his dissenting judgement, Justice P. Ogbuli affirmed Adeleke as the valid winner of the election.
Following an appeal lodged by Adeleke and the PDP, the Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of the tribunal.
It was reported that a three-member panel of Justices, the appellate court, held that there was merit in Adeleke’s appeal. It set aside the judgement of the tribunal and awarded a cost of N500,000 against the APC and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.
Both Oyetola and the APC appealed the decision of the Court of Appeal at the Supreme Court, where they lost the case on Tuesday.
The judgment of the Court of Appeal was upheld, and Adeleke’s victory was confirmed by the Supreme Court.
