The Supreme Court has affirmed the election of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the governor of Osun State.
Delivering the judgment on Tuesday, a five-member panel of the apex court set aside the appeal by Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) challenging the victory of Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, held that the court of appeal correctly reinstated Adeleke as governor.
According to all the members of the panel, the appeal lacked merit.
The apex court held that the appellant failed to adduce enough evidence to prove allegation of over voting in the July 16, 2022 governorship poll.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Adeleke the winner of the poll with a total of 403,371 votes, defeating Oyetola who was the then incumbent with 375,027.
An Osun Election Petition Tribunal had sacked Adeleke from office, saying that he did not score majority of lawful votes during the July 16, 2022 governorship polls.
The tribunal arrived at the decision citing over voting in PDP strongholds. After deductions were made, they declared Oyetola winner of the election.
Not satisfied with the judgement, Adeleke and the PDP headed to the Court of Appeal.
On March 24, a three-man panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, the Court of Appeal quashed the tribunal’s judgement and gave its verdict to uphold Adeleke as rightful governor of Osun State.
Aggrieved with the Appeal Court’s verdict, Oyetola and the APC took the matter to the Supreme Court, which also backed the Appeal Court judgement and upheld Adeleke’s victory.
