The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Osogbo has declared Gboyega Oyetola as the winner of the July 16, 2022 governorship election, upturning the victory of Ademola Adeleke of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP
The judgment was delivered on Friday at the premises of the High Court in Osogbo.
Reading the majority judgement, Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Tertsea Kume said the election was marred by over-voting. He thereby deducted the number of over-voting.
He says having deducted the over-voting figure, Oyetola scored 314,921 while Ademola gathered 290,266.
According to the tribunal the ground of the petition before it are three. They are that Adeleke was not qualified to contest based on his academic qualifications.
Others are the Adeleke was not elected by majority of the electorates and that the election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission was not in compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act.
Justice Kume held that the governorship election was not held in compliance with Nigeria’s Electoral Act.
The tribunal held that the governorship election was characterized by over-voting. It said after deducting the excessive votes, the figure Mr Oyetola polled at the election was 314, 921.
The tribunal, thus, ordered that Mr Oyetola should be returned as governor of Osun State.
Mr Adeleke had been declared the winner with a total of 403,371 votes. He won in 17 of the 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state.
Mr Oyetola of the APC won in the remaining 13 LGAs with 375,027 votes
Fifteen candidates contested for the governorship election but it was keenly contested between Mr Adeleke and Mr Oyetola.
In his petition, Mr Oyetola, the immediate past governor of the state, claimed that the election was characterized by over-voting in 749 polling units.
He also argued that Mr Adeleke forged the academic credentials he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest for the election.
