Tribunal’s Verdict: Protests in Osogbo as Adeleke Heads to A’Court; Oyetola Celebrates *Sacked Osun governor: Annulment of my victory, a miscarriage of justice Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja A few minutes after
Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo and Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja
The Tribunal, headed by Justice Tertsea Kume, ruled that the governorship election was marred by over-voting and deducted the number of over-voting presented by Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC from the votes of Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party and subsequently declared former governor Oyetola as the winner of the election.
No fewer than three PDP branded vans were sighted amongst other vehicles including motorcycles as the Olaiya junction became crowded.The aggrieved PDP members accused the Election Tribunal of injustice and unfairness for pronouncing Oyetola the winner of the governorship election, insisting that Adeleke will remain in office.
Dr Akindele Adekunle, the State Caretaker Committee Chairman of the PDP said: “No Jupiter on earth will take the collective resolve of the people of Osun from them, no matter how highly placed or fraudulent. We want to assure our people that lawyers of the party have been mandated to appeal the judgement immediately.
“I am happy that the Tribunal has been able to lay to rest the controversy over the real winner of the July 16 Osun Governorship election. According to the tribunal, the grounds of the petition before it are three: That Adeleke was not qualified to contest based on his academic qualifications; that Adeleke was not elected by majority of the electorates and that the election conducted by INEC was not in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Justice Kume said the election was marred by over-voting. The tribunal referred to the statement of admission of “seemingly over-voting” made by an INEC official who appeared before the tribunal as respondent’s witness. The panel directed INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and subsequently issue another certificate of return to Oyetola as the validly elected Governor of the state.
On the respondents’ argument that the petitioners did not call any oral evidence to prove the alleged over-voting, the tribunal held that fact admitted needed no proof, as the respondents’ witnesses have admitted over-voting in the result declared by the commission based on the purported syncronished BVAS report issued to the respondents.
The chairman then recommended that to forestall manipulation of BVAS in the conduct of subsequent elections, the INEC server should be linked to the Nigeria Police server and linked with National Security Adviser for transparency, saying any of the reports emanating from these sources can be subjected to investigation.
While the judgement was being read, security personnel were visible on the streets of Osogbo, the state’s capital.The Presidential Candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu, has congratulated Oyetola on his victory at the Osun Election Petition Tribunal. He said he was confident that the good work Oyetola championed that was momentarily paused would soon resume and Osun people would be happy again.
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