Supreme Court affirms Adeleke as Osun State Governor

The Supreme Court of Nigeria in its verdict on Tuesday affirms Ademola Adeleke as the Governor of Osun State.

The Independent National Electoral Commission,(INEC) had declared that Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party polled 403,371 votes to defeat then-incumbent Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, of the All Progressives Congress who got 375,027 votes.

But Oyetola and the APC rejected the result of the poll and headed for the tribunal.

The governorship election in the state was held on July 16, 2022.

In its January 27, 2023 majority verdict, the Justice Tertse Kume-led tribunal annulled Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner of the poll.

The Osun State Election Petition Tribunal had earlier sacked Adeleke as governor of the state on the grounds of over-voting in 744 polling units in January 2023 and declared Oyetola as the winner of the July 16, 2022 election.

Adeleke headed to the Appeal Court which nullified the verdict of the tribunal.

However, the Court of Appeal overturned the tribunal verdict in March 2023, citing evidence from the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machine and voter register.

Adeleke’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN, argued that Oyetola used incorrect polling unit results uploaded on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) back-end server at the Tribunal.

Oyetola’s counsel, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, countered that the Tribunal’s judgment followed scrutiny of evidence made available by INEC. But a three-man panel of the Court of Appeal held that the tribunal was wrong to conclude over-voting using oral witnesses without considering information on the BVAS machine and voters register.

Again, Oyetola and the APC rejected the appeal court verdict and headed for the Supreme Court.

After a lengthy legal battle, the Supreme Court on Tuesday (today) upheld Ademola Adeleke’s victory in the Osun State governorship election, dismissing all disputes against him by Adegboyega Oyetola.

Affirming the appeal court verdict, the Supreme Court ruled that Adeleke legally won the Osun State election, giving a reason for reaching such a decision.

In its judgment on Tuesday, a five-man panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice John Okoro held that the BVAS was the sole foundation and focal point of Adeleke’s case.

The court maintained that Oyetola’s argument that the presiding officers who conducted the elections in 774 polling units did not use the BVAS machine, could not substantiate it.

The court noted that, based on INEC regulations and guidelines, an election result can only be collated if the results agree with the figures in the BVAS and the ones transmitted to the INEC Results Viewing Portal, IRev.

“It is glaring that the appellant did not produce any BVAS machine report as evidence to buttress his claim.

“It is not in dispute that the BVAS accredits voters, it is therefore the only direct and primary record of voters on election day,” the apex court held.

Ademola Adeleke, the Governor of Osun State, has attributed his recent victory at the Supreme Court to the power of God.