Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State has appealed for a reversal of the judgment of the Osun Election Tribunal which declared Senator Ademola Adeleke winner of the September 2018 governorship election.
The election tribunal had by a majority of two of its three members voided his election and declared Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the Governorship election in the state. The Tribunal also asked the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to issue Adeleke a certificate of return.
The appeal filed by his team of lawyers led by Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Oyetola asked the Court of Appeal in Abuja to nullify the decision of the Tribunal on the grounds that it was filled with contradictions and was not supported by evidence led by the petitioners.
The suit also contended that Justice Obiora, who delivered the judgement was not present in all the proceedings, especially when all the witnesses gave evidence.
They noted that Justice Obiora was absent on Feb. 6 this year when the respondents witnesses (RWs) 12 and 13 – Ayoola Soji and Oladejo Kazeem – testified and tendered exhibits, which the tribunal admitted in evidence.
Oyetola also argued that the Tribunal also erred in law and acted without jurisdiction when it accepted the petitioners’ complaint of non compliance with the provisions of Electoral Act in relation to the September 22, 2018 governorship election and on that basis proceeded to nullify the victory of Oyetola and APC.
yetola said: “All petitioners’ witnesses testified and admitted that petitioners were not short-changed regarding the scores recorded for them in each Form EC8A tendered, and that no addition of votes was reflected in favour of the appellants.
“By cancelling of elections in 17 poling units, the lower tribunal acted without jurisdiction. By deciding as aforesaid, the lower tribunal discountenanced Section 139(1) of the Electoral Act.”
He further argued: “Having rightly held that it lacks the jurisdiction to strike down and nullify the approved guidelines and regulations for the conduct of the Osun governorship election 2018, made by INEC, the tribunal misdirected itself in law and came to a perverse decision by going ahead to nullify the re-run election.”