Supreme court upholds election of Oyetola as Osun state governor

The supreme on Friday affirmed the victory of Gboyega Oyetola, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Osun governorship election.

The court dismissed the appeal by candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, Senator Ademola Adeleke.

The Court, in a split decision of five-to-two, read by Justice Olabode Rodes-Vivour, held that the failure of a member of the election tribunal, Justice Peter Obiora to sit on February 6, 2019 rendered the entire proceedings and the judgment given by the tribunal a nullity.

Justice -Vivour also said the certified true copy (CTC) was not signed by Obiora.

“It affected the proceedings. The appeal is dismissed,” he said.

However, in a minority Judgement delivered by Justice, Kumai Akaas, said a judge does not have to sign a certified true copy (CTC) of a judgement before it is valid.

“There is a precedence. The judge does not need to sign CTC of the judgement,” he said.

Oyetola was declared the winner of the Osun governorship poll by the the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), in September 2018, after a controversial re-run.

Ademola Adeleke, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, challenged the result of the election at the tribunal and was later adjudged to have won the election in a 2-1 split decision.

Oyetola later Challenged the tribunal’s decision at the court of appeal which nullified the tribunal’s judgement in his favour.