Ademola Adeleke is now the governor of Osun state again according to the Abuja court of appeal.
A three-member panel of judges rendered a decision in the Adeleke appeal on Friday, concluding that the electoral tribunal erred in finding that Gboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress, the first and second respondents, had established their claim of excessive voting.
Adeleke is the legitimately elected government of the state, according to the panel of justices who delivered their decision.
According to the ruling made by the Osun Governorship Election Tribunal in January, Oyetola was able to demonstrate that there was overvoting in certain of the polling places.
Due to that, the majority judgment of the tribunal ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and issue a fresh one to Oyetola as the duly elected governor of Osun.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Adeleke appealed the judgment at the court of appeal.
In his appeal, Adeleke argued that there was no majority judgment as the second judge on the panel, Rabi Bashir, failed to write her opinion as required by section 294(2) of the constitution.
He also challenged the jurisdiction of the tribunal to preside over the petition on the grounds that it failed to consider the preliminary objection he filed against the petitioners.
In the judgement, Muhammed Shuaibu, who led the appellate court panel, held that the signature of the second judge appended on the tribunal’s judgment document meant that she consented to the lead judgment.
He said there is no law that mandates the judge to write a separate opinion.
On the second issue of jurisdiction, the appellate court held that although the law allows the tribunal suspend decisions on preliminary objections until the end of the matter, the Osun governorship tribunal failed to show in writing that it considered Adeleke’s preliminary objection in its merit.
Consequently, the issue of jurisdiction was resolved in favour of the appellant.
On issue four, the court of appeal faulted the tribunal for rejecting some of Adeleke’s exhibits marked 2RRW4 (which consists of his certificates) on the grounds of forgery.
The court held that the issue of forgery against Adeleke has been resolved and dismissed by a superior court.
On issues five and seven which borders on over-voting, the appeal court held that the respondents failed to prove their allegation of over-voting.
The court further held that the tribunal was wrong to have relied only on the table showing over-voting provided by Oyetola and the APC without giving due consideration to INEC’s voter register.
The respondents, according to the appeal court, failed to tender the BVAS machines or call witnesses and experts to testify on over-voting.
On the issue of bias, the court held that although the tribunal’s comments on the appellant’s (Adeleke) proclivity for dancing and particularly the Buga song, is “unwarranted and condemnable”, it does not in any way prove bias against the appellant.
Adeleke’s appeal was allowed. The court also issued a fine of N500,000 in favour of Adeleke.
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