Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Ademola Adeleke as the Osun State Governor.
In a judgment delivered on Tuesday, a five-member panel of Justices of the apex court upheld the decision of the Court of Appeal which reinstated Adeleke as Osun governor.
INEC had declared Adeleke as the winner of the November July 16, 2022 Osun governorship election having scored majority of the votes cast.
But in its split judgment of two-to-one delivered in January this year, the tribunal held that Oyetola and not Adeleke won majority of the lawful votes in the election.
The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Tertsea Kume, held that there were incidents of over voting in favour of Adeleke, which when deducted revealed that Oyetola polled 314,921 votes as against the incumbent’s 290,266.
Accordingly, the tribunal ordered the withdrawal of Certificate of Return issued to Adeleke, and directed that a fresh one be issued Oyetola as the duly elected governor.
Adeleke in February appealed the decision of the tribunal. In its ruling, the three man panel of the appellate court, voided and set aside the decision of the tribunal on the grounds that the tribunal erred in law, when it held that a case of over voting was established, consequent upon which Adeleke’s votes were deducted.
This prompted Oyetola to approach the Supreme Court to set aside the decision of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal, which voided the judgment of the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal, which returned him as the winner of the November July 16, 2022 governorship election.