Last year, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Adeleke winner of the Osun poll, saying he scored 403,371 votes to sack Oyetola who was the then incumbent with 375,027.
By Jeffrey Agbo
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the election of Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, dashing the hopes of his predecessor, Gboyega Oyetola.
A five-member panel of the apex court held that the Court of Appeal correctly reinstated Adeleke as governor following his removal by the tribunal.
The apex court, in its judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, held that the appellant failed to adduce enough evidence to prove his allegation of over-voting in the July 16, 2022 governorship poll.
The judgment was affirmed and adopted by the entire five members of the panel.
According to all the members of the panel, the appeal lacked merit.
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Last year, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Adeleke winner of the Osun poll, saying he scored 403,371 votes to sack Oyetola who was the then incumbent with 375,027.
However, Oyetola and his party alleged irregularities in the polls and challenged Adeleke’s victory at the tribunal.
Respite came for the former governor on January 27, 2023 as Justice Tertse Kume who gave the majority judgement upturned Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner of the poll.
Justice Kume held that Oyetola scored the majority lawful votes of 314,931 against Adeleke’s 290,266.
But not satisfied with the judgement, Adeleke and the PDP headed to the Court of Appeal, which on March 24 nullified the tribunal judgment and returned Adeleke as the winner.
This ultimately forced Oyetola to take the case to the Supreme Court.
