How Adeleke fared in the election in Osun Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party won the Osun governorship election on July 16, b...
How Adeleke fared in the election in Osun
Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party won the Osun governorship election on July 16, but the outcome was overturned on Friday by the Osun State Election Petitions Tribunal, which was hearing the petition from APC candidate Adegboyega Oyetola.
Even though Adeleke was proclaimed the winner and re-elected by the Independent National Electoral Commission, Oyetola and the APC had contested his victory.
The PUNCH describes the events that resulted in Adeleke's initial "victory" at the ballot and his ultimate defeat at the state tribunal.
Adeleke was proclaimed the winner of the Osun governorship election on July 16, 2022, by INEC.
Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the University of Lagos' Vice Chancellor and the election's returning officer, declared that Adeleke won with 403,371 votes, defeating the incumbent Oyetola, who received 375,027 votes, in the hotly contested race.
Oyetola finished second in the election after winning in 13 of the state's Local Government Areas.
Oyetola rejects Adeleke's victory as unfair.
Oyetola petitioned the Election Petitions Tribunal in Osogbo, the state capital, on August 5, 2022, to declare Adeleke the winner.
Oyetola said that there were several "irregularities" in the poll.
He said that Adeleke should not have been declared the winner since INEC had received a falsified certificate from Adeleke, disqualifying him from running in the election in the first place.
Adeleke and Oyetola will appear in court.
Adeleke gathered over 52 attorneys, including seven Senior Advocates of Nigeria, in advance of the tribunal to represent him in the election petition hearing.
Among the seven SANs defending Adeleke and the other respondents are doctors Alex Izinyon, Paul Ananaba, and Onyeachi Ikpeazu.
Ananaba would be representing INEC with two other SANs and 14 other lawyers, while Izinyon would be leading another SAN and 16 other lawyers for the PDP.
Oyetola, for his part, gathered 50 attorneys, including 10 Senior Advocates of Nigeria, and listed 13 reasons why Adeleke should be disqualified.
Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), Chief Akin Olujumi (SAN), Prince Biodun Layonu (SAN), and Muritala Abdulrasheed (SAN) were important members of the legal team.
Tribunal convenes.
On August 22, the tribunal panel chaired by Justice Tetsea Kumes approved Oyetola's request for notice of the petition to be served on the candidate via an alternate method.
At its first meeting, the tribunal also approved an ex parte motion for an order directing INEC, the first respondent in the case, to allow access to materials in its possession.
The panel indicated that its daily meetings would start at 10 am and terminate at 4 pm, Monday through Thursday, and that they would wrap up at 1 pm on Fridays.
Oyetola displays papers
On November 1, 2022, Oyetola submitted exhibits that included election results from the Ede North, Ede South, and Osogbo local government areas to support his claims through his attorney Lateef Fagbemi, SAN.
Two days later, the petitioner's attorney, Dr. Saka Layoonu, SAN, submitted election results for three more local government areas in the state as well as a Certified True Copy of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System report of the election to the panel.
Adeleke criticizes Oyetola's paperwork
Rasheed Olawale, a representative for Adeleke, had stated that Oyetola's submission of documents was in no way a sign of a legal triumph.
Olawale further chastised the APC for allegedly engaging in a media trial by trying to get any mileage out of the documents, which were BVAS reports and result sheets signed by APC operatives.
The materials would subsequently be challenged in the closing address by Adeleke's side.
PDP and APC share the blame for the alleged attack.
The Osun APC and the PDP swapped accusations on January 12, 2023, regarding alleged intentions by some unnamed politicians to attack the location of the tribunal's session.
However, the APC urged for increased security to be placed around the High Court buildings where the panel was meeting in a statement made by its acting chairman, Tajudeen Lawal.
However, the PDP countered by claiming that the APC had intended to assault the tribunal's proceedings and that the party had simply raised the alarm to divert attention from it in a statement signed by its acting chairman, Dr. Adekunle Akindele.
The petitioners' attorneys, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi and Mr. Akin Olujinmi, argued that Adeleke did not receive a majority of valid votes and, therefore, should not have been declared the election's victor by INEC.
Additionally, they claimed that Adeleke's certificates included discrepancies.
However, in response, the attorneys for Adeleke and INEC, Prof. Paul Ananaba, SAN, Onyeachi Ikpeazu, SAN, and Dr. Alex Izinyon, SAN, representing the PDP, asserted that Adeleke was legitimately elected because the election that resulted in his election was conducted in accordance with the Electoral Act and the Constitution.
The tribunal's decision was then scheduled to be delivered on January 27.Tribunal issues a ruling
The capital of Osun State, Osogbo, saw a significant deployment of security personnel at key locations on Friday as the Election Petitions Tribunal prepared to issue its decision.
APC and PDP secretariats in Osun State, as well as the state office for the APC presidential campaign in Osogbo, both had armed police officers on duty.
Students, employees, and anyone with business along the route had to travel great distances to get to their destinations since the road leading to the Osun State High Court's premises, where the panel would give the ruling, was closed to traffic.
The Tribunal nullified the outcome of the July 16 Osun governorship election in its judgment.
In a majority ruling, Justice Tetsea Kume ruled that INEC had violated the Electoral Act's rules and the constitution in significant ways.
He then subtracted the observed overvoting from the votes received by the candidates, declaring Oyetola the victor with a total of 314, 921 votes to Adeleke's 290, 266.
Adeleke strikes.
Adeleke, who was incensed, referred to the governorship election petitions tribunal's decision as "a miscarriage of justice" and vowed to appeal the decision.
In response to the tribunal's decision, Adeleke criticized the way the overvoting issue was resolved in Oyetola's favor, calling it "an unfair interpretation against the will of the majority of voters" from his country home in Ede.
Adeleke promised to fight the decision at the Court of fight while pleading with his supporters to maintain composure. He insisted he was still the legitimate victor of the July 16 election.