Tension in Osun as Appeal Court delivers judgement on governorship election

There is apprehension in Osun State as the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja delivers judgement on the Osun State governorship election.

Recall that the appellate court heard the Osun governorship election case on March 13, 2023 but reserved its judgment. However, Muhydeen Adeoye, a member of the legal team of the All Progressives Congress (APC) said the appellate court notified all the parties it would deliver its judgement today, the Punch reports.

The Osun State governorship election was held in 2022. Accordingly, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the incumbent governor Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) the winner of the election and returned elected having polled 403,371 votes whereas the former governor, Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 375,027 votes.

Displeased with the results, and having noticed some irregularities such as overvoting, the APC approached the election petition tribunal in Osun State.

On January 27, 2023, a new twist was added to the case when the Justice Tertsea Kume-led election petition tribunal annulled Senator Adeleke’s victory. The majority judgement declared Gboyega Oyetola as the winner of the election, anchoring their judgement of massive overvoting in many polling units.

After the tribunal deducted the excessive votes Adegboyega Oyetola of APC polled 314,921 votes while Senator Ademola Adeleke polled 290, 666 votes.

The minority judgement which was delivered by Justice Ogbuli affirmed Senator Adeleke as the winner of the election.

All the justices on the election petition tribunal agreed that the APC was able to establish a case of forgery against Senator Adeleke, however, the forgery was not enough to disqualify him as he had acquired additional certificates.

A few weeks later, INEC filed a notice of appeal against the tribunal ruling at the appellate court. INEC listed 44 grounds on which it appealed the judgement as the national electoral body said the tribunal judgement undermined the importance of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System(BVAS), and asked the court to overturn the tribunal ruling.
As it is now, both the APC and PDP are optimistic of winning the case at the Court of Appeal.

The Nigerian Police and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Osun State Commands, have deployed their men in strategic locations across the state to forestall any breakdown of law and order.

Details later