Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has been affirmed as the governor of Osun State by the Supreme Court.
The affirmation was done on Tuesday by the five-member panel of the court.
Delivering the judgment prepared by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the panel of justices led by Justice John Okoro dismissed the appeal filed by Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress.
Describing Oyetola’s appeal as lacking in merit, the court held that the reinstatement of Adeleke as the governor of the state by the Court of Appeal was in order.
It would be recalled that on March 24, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja affirmed the election of Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, as against the earlier decision of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
In a unanimous decision by a three-member panel of justices, the Court of Appeal had described as meritorious, the appeal by Adeleke challenging his removal from office by the election petition tribunal which gave victory to Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress, APC.
In addition, the tribunal awarded N500,000 cost against the APC, and its candidate, Oyetola.
It would be recalled that the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Osogbo on January 27, 2023, nullified the election of Governor Ademola Adeleke of PDP.
The chairman of the three-member panel, Justice Tertsea Kume, who read the judgement, said the July 16, 2022 governorship election was not conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act.
Kume said that there was indeed over voting in 744 polling units in the local government areas (LGAs) of the state.
He said that it was the duty of the tribunal to deduct the valid votes cast from the over-voting.
He said that after the deduction of valid votes scored by the candidates from the observed over-voting, Mr Gboyega Oyetola of APC polled 314,931, while Adeleke polled 290,266 votes.
