Osun Guber Election: Supreme Court Upholds Oyetola’s Victory

Osun Guber Election: Supreme Court Upholds Oyetola’s Victory

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the election of Gboyega Oyetola , the candidate of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) as the governor of Osun State .

Naijaparry gathered that the court affirmed Oyetola’s victory by five of the seven judges on the panel, leaving Adeleke with just two.

Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour who read the lead majority judgment of the apex court held that the absence of Justice Peter Obiorah who later read the lead judgment of the tribunal during the February 6, 2019 hearing, had rendered the entire proceedings of the said tribunal and its judgment a nullity.

The Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, and three other members consented to the lead majority judgment.

But Justice Kumai Akaahs and Justice Paul Galinje affirmed PDP as the winner of the poll.

Recall that the Independent National Electoral Commission ( INEC) had declared Oyetola winner of the Osun governorship election after a controversial rerun in September 2018.

Dissatisfied with INEC’s declaration, Ademola Adeleke , the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP ) candidate, filed a petition against at the tribunal.

The tribunal declared Adeleke winner of the election in March and Oyetola appealed the verdict of the tribunal.

In May, the appeal court gave judgement in favour of the APC candidate.

The court set aside the entire proceedings of the tribunal. It said the tribunal panel was not well constituted.