The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has reinstated Senator Ademola Adeleke as the Governor of Osun State, setting aside the judgement of the Osun State Gubernatorial Election Petition Tribunal that sacked him from office.
A three-man panel of the appellate court delivered judgement on Adeleke’s appeal on Friday.
In a unanimous decision, the panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu held that the election tribunal erred when it ruled that the 1st and 2nd respondents (Gboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress) proved their allegation of over-voting.
Recall that the tribunal, in a majority decision read by Justice Tetsea Kume, on January 27, 2023, ruled that there was over-voting in the July 16, 2022, gubernatorial election in the state.
Having deducted the over-voting observed from the votes scored by the candidates, the tribunal declared that Oyetola won the election, having polled 314, 921 votes compared to Adeleke’s new score of 290,266.
Dissatisfied with the ruling, Adeleke approached the Court of Appeal, which quashed the tribunal’s judgement and gave its verdict to uphold Adeleke as the rightful governor of Osun State.
The appellate court also revoked the tribunal’s order which directed that the Certificate of Return previously issued to Adeleke be withdrawn and a fresh one issued to Oyetola.
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