Supreme Court Upholds Adeleke’s Victory 

The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal of Adegboyega Oyetola challenging the election of Senator Ademola Adeleke as Osun State Governor.

In its judgment read by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the court also upheld the Appeal Court’s judgment which upheld the election of Adeleke as the state governor.

The apex court maintained that Oyetola and the APC failed to produce enough evidence to prove Adeleke’s alleged overvoting in the 16th of July, 2022 governorship poll. The judgment was affirmed and adopted by the entire five members of the panel. They also asserted that the appeal lacks merit.

Recall that the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State earlier expressed hope for victory as the Supreme Court determines the authentic winner of the July 16, 2022 governorship election in the state.

What you need to know about Adeleke’s victory

The Independent National Electoral Commission declared that Adeleke polled 403,371 votes, to defeat then-incumbent governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC, who got 375,027 votes. But Oyetola and the APC rejected the result of the poll and headed for the tribunal.

On the 27th of January, 2023, The Justice Tertse Kume-led tribunal in its majority verdict annulled Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner of the poll. While a minority judgment by Justice B. Ogbuli affirmed Adeleke as the winner of the poll.

Furthermore, Adeleke and the PDP, displeased by the verdict headed for the Court of Appeal, which on the 24th of March nullified the tribunal judgment and returned Adeleke as the winner.

Dissatisfied with the judgment, Oyetola and the APC then headed for the Supreme Court, which held the matter on Monday and released the judgment today.

At the sitting of the apex court panel that heard the matter on Monday, the parties adopted their briefs and addressed the court after which the panel announced Tuesday for judgment.