BREAKING: Appeal Court Reserves Judgement On Osun Election As Adeleke, Oyetola Await Verdict

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has reserved judgement on the actual winner of the Osun governorship election.

THE WHISTLER reports that the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal had on January 27, 2023, sacked Senator Ademola Adeleke as governor of the state citing overvoting in 744 polling units in the state.

The tribunal, in a majority decision, also declared Adegboyega Oyetola as the winner of the July 16th, 2022 state election.

But Adeleke’s lawyer, Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN, entered an appeal against the tribunal’s judgement on 12 February 2023.

Appearing before the Court of Appeal, Abuja, on Monday, Ikpeazu argued that the former governor mounted his case on an incorrect polling unit results uploaded on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s back end server.

He contended that the tribunal granted him leverage to Inspect the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System machine used for the election, and the Certified True Copies of data extracted from it.

But he said the tribunal did not base its findings on the data on the BVAS machine, which according to him, showed that his client clearly won the election even if some polling units are cancelled.

He also explained that the BVAS showed accreditation took place in the affected polling units.

He argued that a member of the tribunal did not verbally express her opinion on the verdict but signed on the judgement, contrary to the rules of court.

He maintained that judges must say their verdict in open court.

“Allow the appeal and set aside the decision of the lower court,” Ikpeazu prayed.

But Oyetola’s counsel, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, countered Ikpeazu, saying that the typed document of the judgement stated the decision of the court.

“Our position has always been that not all registered voters were accredited by BVAS,” Lateef said, adding the areas where the device was used did not align with the results recorded and announced by INEC.

Fagbemi admitted that in the 774 polling units, the Tribunal observed that overvoting gave Adeleke 112,705 votes while Oyetola got 60,000 votes.

He added it was that basis, the lower court cancelled the affected polling unit results.

But the Appellate court asked Fagbemi if the Electoral Act prescribed cancellation as the only remedy for overvoting.

He replied that rerun was part of the options enshrined in the Electoral Act, depending on the discretion of the INEC and its presiding officer.

“Judgement reserved,” the Court of Appeal said.