The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Osogbo has sacked Governor Ademola Adeleke and declared Gboyega Oyetola as the winner of the July 16, 2022 governorship election in the state.
The three-member tribunal gave the verdict on Friday.
In August 2022, Oyetola, who contested on the All Progressives Congress (APC) platform, challenged the victory of Adeleke, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate.
Oyetola challenged Adeleke’s victory on two grounds of over-voting and certificate forgery.
The petitioner’s counsels argued that there was over-voting in 749 polling units across 10 LGAs of the state.
In a majority decision of two to one, the Justice Tertsea Kume-led tribunal held that the petitioner was able to prove that there was over-voting in some of the polling units, and berated the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for failing to comply substantially with the constitution and the provisions of the electoral act.
Justice Kume, who read the majority decision, held that all documents by the petitioner (Oyetola) are valid and legitimate and the motion to reject them by Adeleke has been dismissed.
The tribunal subsequently declared Oyetola as the winner of the election with 314, 921 votes, defeating Adeleke who scored 290, 666.
The tribunal ordered INEC to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to Adeleke and issue a fresh one to Oyetola as the duly elected Governor of Osun.
The tribunal however affirmed that Adeleke is academically qualified to contest as Osun governor.
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