The Supreme Court of Nigeria has upheld the victory of Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party PDP as the authentic winner of July 16, 2022, Governorship election in Osun state.
The Apex court in a unanimous decision of a five-man panel of justices, dismissed and struck out the appeal of Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress, APC, for lack of merit.
Justice Emmanuel Agih who read the lead judgment, held that the appellant failed to prove that there was over-voting in the governorship election held in the state.
The Apex court held that, though Oyetola alleged that Adeleke won through over-voting tn 774 polling units of the state, he, however, failed to produce any Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS, a machine that was used in any of the polling units to prove his allegations.
The Court also, held that, since it was not in dispute that the BVAS contain a record of accredited voters, “it is, therefore, the only direct and primary record of voters accredited at polling units on Election Day.”
They said, that nothing in either Section 47 of the Electoral Act 2022 or Regulations 18- 23 of the INEC’s Regulations, made it mandatory for Presiding Officers in an election to transmit by BVAS, the number of accredited voters in each polling unit to the INE backend server.
Apex court dismissed evidence of purported expert witnesses that testified in Oyeyola’s favour.
It said; “it found no reason to set aside the verdict of the Court of Appeal which upheld Adeleke’s election victory.”
The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had on January 27, in a split decision, voided the declaration of Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the winner of the gubernatorial election.
According to the tribunal, the petitioners, Oyetola and APC, successfully established that there was overvoting in 744 polling units in the state.
After deducting the said invalid votes, the tribunal declared Oyetola as the winner of the governorship contest, even as it directed the INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return it earlier issued to Adeleke.
Following an appeal that was lodged by Adeleke and the PDP, the Court of Appeal, on March 24, reversed the judgment of the tribunal.
The appellate court, in a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of Justices, held that there was merit in Adeleke’s appeal.
Aside from setting aside the judgement of the tribunal, the court, in its lead judgement that was delivered by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, awarded a cost of N500,000 against the APC and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola, the former Governor.
Landmark judgement
Governor Adeleke has described the judgement as a landmark in the history of Osun politics, saying, “Today is the day, our God ordained to stand his authority as the owner and giver of power.
“Today is that moment when the will of the people ordained by God survived the anti-masses plot of powerful forces. We, therefore, celebrate God almighty. We dedicate today’s victory to Him. State power is of God and he bestowed it on whoever he wishes. I will remain God’s driven, divinely inspired, I will govern with the fear of God. Our governorship is an affirmation that we are for the people, by the people.
He said; “As a moral compass, affirming the integrity of my lord justice, your affirmation for the truth and people will consolidate and strengthen our democracy.
“On behalf of the Osun people, we appreciate you and adore your love for justice and equity.
“To all stakeholders in the Osun project, be assured that the revalidation of our mandate is a challenge, a call to duty, a fresh demand for more dividends of democracy.”
Governor Adeleke promised to commit himself to more expanded delivery of good governance, saying, “In me, you will find a true pro-people governor.”
Mercy Chukwudiebere
