Osun: Oyetola asks Appeal Court to quash Adeleke, PDP’s victory at tribunal

The Governor of Osun State, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, has appealed against the judgment of the election petition tribunal, which invalidated his victory in the September 2018 governorship election that brought him to power.

Unsatisfied with the tribunal’s verdict, Oyetola has filed a notice of appeal, listing 39 grounds why the tribunal’s decision should not stand.

In the notice of appeal, which he filed on March 26, 2019, Oyetola urged the Court of Appeal to nullify the majority judgment which he argued was perverse, replete with contradictions and not supported by the evidence led by the petitioners.

The governor, through his lead counsel, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), urged the appellate court to not only set aside the tribunal’s majority judgment but to also dismiss the October 16, 2018 petition by the PDP and Adeleke.

He, however, urged the appellate court to uphold the aspects of the majority judgment where the tribunal held that it lacked jurisdiction to set aside INEC’s guidelines; that the allegation of over voting was not proved; that the petitioners did not prove voided votes and other parts of the judgment where the tribunal agreed with their arguments.

Faulting the majority judgment’s nullification of the September 27, 2018 supplementary election, the appellant stated, “Having rightly held that it lacked the jurisdiction to strike down and nullify the approved Guidelines and Regulations for the Conduct of the Osun State Governorship Election 2018, made by INEC, the tribunal misdirected itself in law and came to a perverse decision by going ahead to nullify the rerun election.”

He also contended, among others, that the majority judgment was a nullity on the basis that it was written by Justice Obiorah “who did not participate in all the proceedings of the tribunal and who was not present when all the witnesses gave evidence.”

He also argued that the tribunal acted without jurisdiction by anchoring its decision to grant the petitioners’ prayers and set aside his return on the basis of allegation of non-compliance with the Electoral Act, in relation to the September 22 governorship election.

The appellant noted that nowhere in the entire petition did Adeleke and the PDP complain about non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act in relation to the September 22, 2018 election.

He faulted the decision of the tribunal to declare Adeleke and the PDP winner when the petitioners had admitted to have benefited from INEC’s alleged non-compliance with Electoral Act by INEC’s alleged failure to fill in some portions of the Forms EC8A (polling unit result sheets).

He maintained that if the tribunal had rightly upheld the allegation of non-compliance it only ought to order a rerun.

He also stated that the tribunal ought not to have agreed with the petitioners by cancelling the votes from the affected polling units and then declaring them winners of the same election.

He added that the decision also violated the provision of Section 140(2) of the Electoral Act.

“The lower tribunal wrongly disenfranchised the electorate in the said polling units after casting their votes and without any challenge to the scores generated from the voting exercise,” his notice of appeal read in part.