Tribunal Sacks Adeleke, Declares Oyetola Winner Of Osun Guber Election

• The electoral commission had declared Adeleke of the PDP as the winner of the Osun governorship election in July 2022.

• Oyetola of the APC disputed the outcome of the election at the election petition tribunal.

• In a majority judgement, the tribunal agreed with the petition of the APC candidate.

Eko Hot Blog reports that the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Osogbo has sacked Governor Ademola Adeleke as the duly elected governor of the state.

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The tribunal reached the decision in a split decision of two to one.

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.

The petitioner and candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, had alleged over-voting in 749 polling units across 10 LGAs of the state.

The 10 LGAs include Ede North, Ede South, Egbedore, Ejigbo, Ila, Ilesa west, Irepodun, Obokun, Olorunda, and Osogbo.

The majority of the tribunal agreed with Oyetola and subsequently deducted the over-voting observed from the votes scored by the candidates and declared that Oyetola won the election, having polled 314, 921 valid votes, while Adeleke’s total came down to 290, 266.

Justice Kume, therefore, ordered INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Adeleke and issue the same to the APC candidate.

Although Oyetola and the APC also argued that Adeleke was not qualified to run for office based on his academic qualifications, the tribunal dismissed their argument.

INEC had declared Adeleke the winner of the election with a total of 403,371 votes. He was said to have won in 17 of the 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state.

Oyetola of the APC was said to have won in the remaining 13 LGAs with 375,027 votes.

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Adelele is expected to appeal the ruling of the tribunal and will remain in office pending the final determination of the matter by superior courts.

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