Ademola Adeleke Vows To Appeal Court Judgement Against Him

Ademola Adeleke, the governor of Osun State, has declared his intention to challenge the Tribunal’s decision that resulted in his removal from office.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Adeleke was proclaimed the victor, in the governorship election held on July 16th.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Osun governor Gboyega Oyetola filed a lawsuit with the tribunal in August 2022 to contest Adeleke’s victory.

Oyetola claimed that there was over-voting at 749 polling units throughout 10 LGAs of the state, among other things.

The petitioner was able to show that there was over-voting in several of the polling places, according to two of the three members of the tribunal’s panel who rendered a verdict on Friday, January 27.

All documents submitted by the petitioner (Oyetola) were found to be genuine and lawful by the tribunal, which was presided over by Justice Tertsea Kume, and Adeleke’s plea to have them rejected was denied.

Additionally, it was decided that Governor Ademola Adeleke meets the academic requirements to run for governor of Osun.

The tribunal concluded that there was evidence of overvoting in the July 16 guber election although noting that the APC’s claim of overvoting was insufficient.

“After deducting invalid votes due to overvoting, Adegboyega Oyetola scored 314, 931 while Governor Ademola Adeleke scored 290, 666,” the Tribunal held.

As a result, the tribunal decided that Ademola Adeleke’s election as governor was invalid.

The majority judgment of the tribunal directed INEC to remove the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and issue a new one to Oyetola as Oyetola was legitimately elected governor of Osun.

Adeleke termed the governorship election petition tribunal’s decision to be “a miscarriage of justice” and promised to appeal the decision to the Court of Appeal.

Adeleke reacted on Twitter saying: “I want to use this opportunity to call on our people to remain calm. We will appeal the judgement and we are sure justice will be done. Let everyone be reassured that we will do everything possible to retain this widely acclaimed mandate. God bless Osun!”