Osun Governorship: Anxiety As Appeal Court Set To Decide On Adeleke’s Fate Today 

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja, will on Friday, deliver its judgement on an appeal that Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State filed to challenge the nullification of his election.

Adeleke, alongside his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, are praying to the appellate court to set aside the verdict of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which sacked him from office.

It will be recalled that Justice Tertsea Kume-led three-member panel tribunal, on January 27, in a split decision of two-to-one, voided the declaration of Adeleke as the winner of the governorship election that was held on July 16, 2022.

In the majority judgement, the tribunal upheld a petition that was brought before it by the former governor of the state, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress, APC, who came second in the election.

It held that Adeleke did not score the majority of lawful votes, adding that the conduct of the election was not in substantial compliance with provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.

According to the tribunal, the petitioners, Oyetola and APC, successfully established that there was overvoting in 744 polling units in the state.

After deducting the said invalid votes, the tribunal declared Oyetola as the winner of the governorship contest, even as it directed the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to withdraw the Certificate of Return it earlier issued to Adeleke.

However, in his dissenting judgement, the third member of the panel, Justice P. Agbuli, affirmed Adeleke as the valid winner of the election, even as he struck out the petition that was lodged by Oyetola and the APC.

Meanwhile, dissatisfied with the majority decision that sacked him from office, governor Adeleke took the case before the Court of Appeal.

In his 31 grounds of appeal, Adeleke, maintained that the decision was a nullity, pointing out that the second member of the panel, Justice Rabi Bashir, failed to render her opinion on the petition, either orally or in writing, but merely appended her signature on the judgement.

“The second member of the lower Tribunal could not have validly signed the decision of the chairman of the lower Tribunal without an opinion”, he argued.

Adeleke, through his team of lawyers led by Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, further contended that the tribunal decided the matter without considering the totality of evidence that was adduced before it.

The embattled Osun state governor accused the panel of exhibiting its bias when it left the substance of the case and made reference to his dancing skill.

He noted that the tribunal, in the majority judgement, held that he could not “go lo lo lo lo” and “buga won” as the duly elected governor of Osun state.