On Tuesday, the Supreme Court confirmed Ademola Adeleke as Osun State’s elected governor for the PDP. Justice Emmanuel Agim’s lead judgment dismissed the appeal lodged against Adeleke’s victory by the APC candidate, Adegboyega Oyetola, a former governor of the state. Oyetola claimed over-voting in 774 polling units but failed to provide evidence of BVAS machines used in any of them to prove his allegations against Adeleke.
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The court ruled that the BVAS is the primary record of accredited voters on election day. There is no requirement for presiding officers to transmit the number of accredited voters to the backend server via BVAS under Section 47 of the Electoral Act 2022 or Regulations 18–23 of INEC`s Regulations. The court dismissed expert witness evidence in favour of Oyetola and upheld Adeleke’s election victory, this victory is coming after the former governor claimed victory at the tribunal court.
The Osun State election tribunal voids Adeleke’s win
The tribunal, led by Justice Tertsea Kume, upheld a petition by former governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC, who came second in the election. The verdict stated that Adeleke did not win the majority of lawful votes and that the election was not in compliance with the Electoral Act. The tribunal found that 744 polling units in the state had overvoted, as proven by Oyetola and the APC.
The tribunal declared Oyetola the winner after deducting invalid votes and directed INEC to withdraw Adeleke’s Certificate of Return. Justice P dissented. Adeleke was declared a valid winner, and Oyetola’s petition was struck out.
Adeleke and the PDP appealed, and on March 24, the Court of Appeal reversed the tribunal’s judgment, finding merit in Adeleke’s appeal. The court ignored the tribunal’s judgment and fined the APC and its candidate, Oyetola, N500,000. They appealed to the Supreme Court but lost.
