By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
Few hours to July 5, 2019, the Supreme Court of Nigeria will deliver judgement on the Osun State governorship election held on September 22, 2018 that is now a subject of adjudication.
The legal battle is between Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola of All Progressives Congress (APC) and Senator Ademola Adeleke of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
Expectations of the two contestants and their political parties and supporters are high.
While Adeleke of PDP is optimistic of getting judgement in his favour, Oyetola on the other hand is boasting of remaining in government house Osogbo after the Supreme Court judgement on Friday.
Where will the pendulum swings to?
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is hopeful and has expressed confidence that its candidate, Senator Adeleke will be declared winner.
The deputy national publicity secretary of the PDP, Diran Odeyemi, stated that their party is hopeful of justice, adding that the party has a good chance of doing a victory dance.
“We are hopeful that justice will be dispensed in our favour. We have presented a good case and established how we were rigged out by the All Progressives Congress, (APC) and we believe in the judiciary for an unbiased judgement.”
Nevertheless, Oyetola believes that he won the election, although his election was nullified by the Osun 2018 Governorship Election Tribunal which on March 22 declared Adeleke as the winner but on May 9, the Appeal Court overturned the decision of the tribunal and declared Oyetola the winner.
Not satisfied, Adeleke approached the Supreme Court to challenge the ruling of Appeal Court.
Few hours from now will tell who actually won.
However, tension is high in Osun State. The atmosphere is charged and expectedly, the security agents , especially the police are on alert to forestall any breakdown of law and order that may erupt after the judgement.
The Osun State Police Command has beefed up security in the state to prevent any breakdown of law and order ahead of Supreme Court’s judgment.
The command’s spokesperson, DSP Folashade Odoro has warned that the police are fully prepared for the outcome.
“Officers have been placed on red alert and are pro-active to prevent any kind of violence or demonstration in the state.
“We will, however, want to urge people of the state to maintain law and order and go about their lawful businesses without fear or intimidation,” she said.
The Election
Osun State governorship election was conducted on September 22, 2018 with little or no hitch and could be adjudged to be a good improvement on past elections conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
After the collation of results at the INEC Headquarters in Osogbo, the electoral body declared the election inconclusive in the early hours of September 23, 2018.
In the election declared, the candidate of the PDP, Ademola Adeleke, polled 254,698 votes to defeat that of the candidate of APC, Gboyega Oyetola, who polled 254,345 votes.
The inconclusiveness declared was due to alleged irregularities which marred the election at some polling units in Ife North, Ife South and Orolu local government areas, including cases of card reader malfunctioning, ballot box snatching, among others.
INEC had to cancel 3,498 votes recorded in the affected polling units and declared a rerun in the affected polling units.
Quoting INEC’s Standing Rules, the Returning Officer and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Prof. Joseph Fuwape, said since the margin between the two leading candidates was lower than the registered cancelled votes, a rerun would take place at the affected polling units on Thursday, September 27, 2018.
The election of September 27 came under severe criticism because of some alleged malpractices which included militarization of the electoral process, intimidation among others.
The candidate of the APC, Oyetola, was eventually declared the winner of the rerun election.
The Returning Officer, Prof Fuwape, declared Oyetola winner of the election after the collation of the results of the supplementary election in seven polling units.
According his announcement, Oyetola polled a total of 255,505 votes to emerge the winner of the poll while Adeleke polled a total of 255,023 votes to come second in the contest.
Not satisfied by the announcement of INEC declaring Oyetola as the governor-elect, the runner-up which is PDP and its candidate Adeleke dragged Oyetola and his party APC to the State Election Petition Tribunal.
Tribunal Decision in its split judgement of two against one the declared Adeleke winner of the election.
The three-member panel said during its ruling in Abuja that the rerun election that held on September 27, 2018, was illegal.
The tribunal, therefore, deducted the votes scored by the APC candidate Oyetola at the rerun after declaring the rerun illegal.It held that Adeleke won the election at the first ballot on September 22, adding that the rerun which INEC devised to reach a final conclusion a week later was illegal.
“The declaration of Oyetola is null and void,” the tribunal ruled in a majority decision with one member dissenting.
“The petitioner (Mr Adeleke) having fulfilled the constitutional requirements and scored the majority lawful vote is declared winner and returned as governor.
“The rerun in the seven cancelled units are hereby declared null and void and of no electoral effect.”
The tribunal ordered the withdrawal of the certificate of return issued to Oyetola and ordered that a new certificate of return be issued to Adeleke.
Political Intrigue
The role displayed by the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, Iyiola Omisore, who came a distant third in the Osun State election, was an important factor in the rerun election because some of the polling units fell under the area of his strength.
He was visited by a high powered Federal Government delegation which included the APC chairman, Adams Oshiomhole; Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun; his Oyo State counterpart, Abiola Ajimobi; Ekiti State Governor-elect, Kayode Fayemi; and Minister of Information, Lai Mohammed.
Although he also met some leaders of the PDP, which included the party’s presidential aspirants, Bukola Saraki, and Atiku Abubakar, Omisore caved in under the Federal Government pressure as he announced that he would support the APC in the rerun.
PDP rejects results
After the announcement of result by INEC returning officer declaring Oyetola the winner, the national leadership of the PDP met in Abuja over the conduct of the rerun governorship election in Osun State.
While rejecting it, the party also said that the Thursday election was one of the worst days in the history of Nigeria.It described the election as a black day for the nation.
Speaking at the emergency meeting after the meeting of members of PDP National Working Committee, the National Chairman of the party Price Uche Secondus decried the conduct of the election, lamenting that Osun State was put under siege and the citizens’ right trampled upon by security agents, whom he said were backed by both the APC and the INEC officials.
He expressed concern that if what took place in Osun State was what would take place in 2019, then the future of Nigeria’s democracy “is bleak and the nation sliding into crisis.”
“We found that Osun is under siege. Therefore, today is a black day for Nigeria.
“We would think that it is a state or some units, but if you look at what has transpired so far from Ekiti to Osun State, Nigerians are groaning in pains especially the Osun people.
“The right of the citizens to be able to come out and vote had been trampled upon and the entire state and the wards and units have been seized by the security agencies who were acting on behalf of the APC to make sure the election is rigged by all means. ” Secondus said.
