Adeleke heads to Appeal as tribunal gives judgement in favour of Oyetola

Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal on Friday declared the candidate of All Progressives Congress, Alhaji Adegboyega Oyetola as the winner of the July 16, 2022 poll.

The judgment was delivered by the three-man panel, led by Justice Tertsea Kume.

Kume, while delivering the two-to-one split decision declared that INEC did not comply substantially with the Constitution and the provisions of the Electoral Act.

He subsequently deducted the over-voting observed from the votes scored by the candidates and declared that Oyetola won the election, having polled 314, 921, while Adeleke’s score came down to 290, 266.

He thus asked INEC to withdraw Adeleke’s certificate of return and issued another one to Oyetola who won a majority of the lawful votes.,

However, a minority decision by one of the judges is being read as at the time of filing this report.

In a swift reaction to the judgement, the Executive Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke described the judgement of the governorship tribunal as “a miscarriage of justice”, vowing to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal.

Adeleke who reportedly spoke from his country home in Ede, faulted the resolution of the over-voting question in favour of Oyetola, calling it “an unfair interpretation against the will of the majority of voters.”

He urged his supporters to remain calm, he has however vowed to appeal the judgement at the Court of Appeal, insisting he remained the rightful winner of the July 16 election.

“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”, Adeleke declared.