Osun Governorship: Appeal Court reserves judgement in Adeleke’s case against tribunal’s decision

The Appeal Court has reserved judgement on the appeal filed by Osun State Governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, challenging the decision of the state election petition tribunal which nullified his victory in the state governorship election.

In the ruling by a three-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu on Monday, the court said it was reversing the matter to a later date for a decision after taking the argument and adopting the briefs of all parties in the suit.

Adeleke had, in February, appealed the judgement of the Osun State Governorship Tribunal which nullified his election in favour of former Governor Gboyega Oyetola on the grounds of over voting recorded in some polling units in the state.

While delivering the judgement, two out of the three-member panel of the tribunal held that Oyetola had proven that there was over-voting in some of the polling units in the 16 July, 2022, gubernatorial election.

Not satisfied with the ruling, Adeleke filed an appeal before the Akure division of the Court of Appeal.

In the 31 grounds of appeal, Adeleke prayed the court for “an order setting aside the whole decision of the tribunal” while describing the ruling of the tribunal as a “miscarriage of justice”.

He equally sought an order to strike out the petition for want of competence and jurisdiction or in the alternative, an order dismissing the petition on the merit.

“The tribunal, in its judgment, erred in law and displayed bias against the appellant when it made reference to the appellant’s dance at his inauguration as governor of Osun state which was never an issue before the lower tribunal,” Adeleke had noted.

During proceedings, counsel to Adeleke, Onyechi Ikpeazu, held that a member of the tribunal panel who is also a chief magistrate, did not air her opinion on the judgement delivery but only appended her signature while the Nigerian constitution mandates her to have aired her views about the suit.

However, counsel to former Governor Gboyega Oyetola, Lateef Fagbemi, countered with an argument that a mere signing of the judgment, and not making any comment afterwards does not make the judgment invalid.

Fagbemi noted that the case of over voting exceeded six polling units, adding that the anomaly was experienced in 744 polling units across the state.