Osun: Blow by blow account of Appeal Court ruling on Oyetola vs Adeleke
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja is delivering its judgement on the appeal brought before it by Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke on the decision of the Election Petition Tribunal to declare his election null and void.
The tribunal had on January 27, voided the July 16, 2022, election that produced Adeleke of the PDP as the elected governor.
INEC had declared Adeleke the winner of the election after polling 403,371 votes. He was said to have won in 17 of the 30 local government areas in the state.
But the election tribunal, led by Justice Terste Kume, in its judgment, invalidated the election and declared Mr Gboyega Oyetola of APC as the valid winner of the poll.
12:19pm: Case Number 1 is being called. Kehinde Ogunwumiju SAN and others appear for the appellant.
12:22pm: Dr. Abiodun Layonu SAN and others appear for Oyetola and APC.
Lead judgment is being read.
Eight issues are listed for determination.
- Is the majority decision valid? He ruled in favour of tribunal. No need for the second judge to write a different judgement.
- Is the tribunal right to have ruled against INEC to have retuned the appellant (Oyetola) based on primarily breaches at the tribunal? He ruled in their favour.
- On Certified True Copy controversy. Ruled against PDP. On whether the receipt issued for BVAS report tenable, it is resolved in favour of Oyetola.
- Pertaining to forgery. Judgement in favour of appellant.
Out of four cases, Oyetola and APC won three grounds, silent on the fourth one. Majority judgement soon.
The Appeal Court has also held that the documents procured by Oyetola from INEC are valid…
On issues five and seven (Over voting/BVAS): Key issues was the issue of BVAS. He defined BVAS exclusively. He ruled against over voting as earlier ruled by the tribunal.
The Court of Appeal held that the BVAS machines themselves are the primary sources of accreditation date, not server report. That issue is resolved in favour of Adeleke.
FINAL VERDICT: The Appeal Court has set aside the Tribunal judgment of Adeleke.
