Oyetola, Adeleke

Ademola Adeleke, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has been sacked as Osun Governor by the State Election Petition Tribunal. It declared Gboyega Oyetola, candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the 16 July 2022 Osun governorship poll. But Adeleke has rejected the outcome, vowing to proceed to the Appeal Court.

Justice Tetsea Kume delivered a majority decision and declared that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) “did not comply substantially with the Constitution and the provisions of the Electoral Act.”

Thus, by the time Kume deducted the over-voting observed from the votes scored by the candidates he declared Oyetola winner. This is because he polled polled 314, 921, as against Adeleke’s 290, 266.

The judge directed INEC to withdraw Adeleke’s certificate of return. Another was ordered issued for Oyetola who won a majority of the lawful votes.

On 17 July 2022 INEC declared Adeleke as the winner of the Osun State governorship election. He won 17 of the 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the Osun State governorship election. Oyetola won in the remaining 13. Oyetola scored 375,027 votes while Adeleke claimed 403,371 votes. The margin was about 44,426 votes.

However, Adeleke rejected the verdict, describing it as ” a miscarriage of justice”. He vowed to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.

In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Rasheed Olawale, Governor Adeleke faulted the resolution of the over-voting question in favour of Mr Oyetola, calling it ” an unfair interpretation against the will of majority of voters”.

I call on our people to remain calm. We will appeal the judgement and we are sure justice will be done. Let our people be reassured that we will do everything possible to retain this widely acclaimed mandate.”
With the new electoral law, disputes of this nature at the sub-national level drags to the Supreme Court.