Policy & Regulation

Appeal court upholds Senator Ademola Adeleke’s win in Osun

Published

6 months ago

March 24, 2023

The Court of Appeal Abuja has overturned the ruling of the Osun State Governorship tribunal and has declared Senator Ademola Adeleke to be the rightful winner of the Governorship election.

The members of the contesting parties – the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) – where in the Court of Appeal on Friday in Abuja to decide the winner of the July 16 governorship election.

At the Appeal court, counsel to Adeleke refuted the claim of over-voting.

On Friday, a three-member panel of justices ruled that the election tribunal had made a mistake in its decision that the 1st and 2nd respondents (Gboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress) had proven their claim of over-voting, thus declaring Adeleke the rightful governor of Osun State.

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Senator Ademola Adeleke of the PDP as the winner of the election with 403,371 votes, while incumbent Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC received 375,027 votes.

The Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal, led by Justice Tertse Kume, handed down a majority verdict on January 27, 2023, nullifying the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Adeleke, due to over voting some polling units.

The tribunal then declared that the All Progressives Congress’s candidate, Oyetola, had won the poll.

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However, a dissenting opinion by Justice B. Ogbuli affirmed Adeleke as the rightful winner.