In a landmark judgement that has put an end to months of legal tussle, the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the election of Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the Governor of Osun State.
The apex court dismissed the appeal filed by Adegboyega Oyetola, the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who challenged Adeleke’s victory at the polls.
Justice Emmanuel Agim, who delivered the lead judgement, stated that Oyetola failed to prove his allegation of over-voting in the 774 polling units in the state.
The court held that Oyetola could not provide any Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS), a machine used in any of the polling units, to substantiate his claim.
The Supreme Court noted that it was evident that Oyetola did not produce any BVAS, but relied on a report of the examination of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) database or backend server to establish over-voting.
The court also clarified that the BVAS is the only direct and primary record of voters accredited at polling units on election day.
Furthermore, the court pointed out that neither Section 47 of the Electoral Act 2022 nor Regulations 18-23 of INEC’s regulations made it obligatory for presiding officers in an election to transmit the number of accredited voters in each polling unit to the backend server by BVAS.
The apex court disregarded the evidence of alleged expert witnesses who testified in favour of Oyetola. It concluded that the Court of Appeal’s judgement upholding Adeleke’s election victory was in order and should not be set aside.
The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had earlier nullified Adeleke’s election on January 27, in a split decision, after upholding a petition brought before it by Oyetola and the APC.
The tribunal held that Adeleke did not score the majority of lawful votes and that the conduct of the election was not in substantial compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, 2022.
However, in his dissenting judgement, Justice P. Ogbuli affirmed Adeleke as the valid winner of the election, striking out Oyetola and APC’s petition.
Subsequently, the Court of Appeal reversed the decision of the tribunal on March 24, citing merit in Adeleke’s appeal.
The appellate court set aside the tribunal’s judgement and awarded a cost of N500,000 against the APC and Oyetola.
Both parties then approached the Supreme Court, which has now put the matter to rest by upholding Adeleke’s election as the Governor of Osun State.
