The Court of Appeal Abuja Division has suspended judgment in the appeal filed by Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke challenging the decision of the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal that annulled his election to a future date.
Hon. Justice Mohammed Shuaibu who led the three-member panel notified the parties after hearing arguments on the matter that a date for the judgment would be communicated to them by the court.
Former Governor Adegboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the appeal marked CA/AK/EPT/GOV/01/2023 were joined as 1st and 2nd respondents, while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) are the 3rd and 4th respondents.
The penultimate Court is also expected to sit on other appeals filed by INEC, PDP, and Oyetola.
Governor Adeleke’s legal team led by Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu SAN had on February 9, 2023, filed 31 grounds of appeal against the January 27, 2023, split judgment of the tribunal which sparked widespread protests, especially in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.
On July 16, 2022, the tribunal nullified the election that produced Adeleke as the elected governor and ordered INEC to issue a Certificate of Return to Oyetola as the duly elected governor. A member of the three-man panel however disagreed, delivering a dissenting judgment.
The electoral umpire also strongly disagreed with the tribunal and filed an unprecedented 44 grounds of appeal against the judgment. In a Notice of Appeal signed by its Lead Counsel, Prof. Paul Ananaba SAN, the commission stated that the judgment of the tribunal was riddled with “error in law” and “want of competence and jurisdiction.”
INEC urged the Appeal Court to set aside the whole judgment of the tribunal, arguing that “The judgement of the lower Tribunal is against the weight of evidence.”
It urged the appeal court to “Allow the Appeal” and sought “An Order dismissing and/or striking out the Petition for want of competence and jurisdiction” as well as “An Order dismissing the Petition of the 1 and 2nd Respondents in this Appeal as lacking in merit with substantial cost.” Oyetola and APC are 1st and 2nd respondents while Adeleke and the PDP were joined by INEC as 3rd and 4th respondents.
On his part, Adeleke described the tribunal’s judgment as a “miscarriage of justice” and prayed for “an order setting aside the whole decision of the tribunal”. The governor also sought “an order striking out the petition for want of competence and jurisdiction or in the alternative, an order dismissing the petition on the merit”.
While the tribunal had in a statement that attracted heated public debate held that Adeleke “cannot ‘go lo lo lo lo’ and ‘buga won’ as the duly elected governor of Osun state,” the appellant stated in his Notice of Appeal that “The tribunal, in its judgment, erred in law and displayed bias against the appellant when it made reference to the appellant’s dance at his inauguration as governor of Osun state which was never an issue before the lower tribunal.
“By referring to the appellant’s personal eccentricity for dancing, the lower tribunal derided and mocked him in a manner suggesting that it was biased against him.
“The appearance of bias, manifested in the reference to the Appellant’s proclivity for dancing and particularly the Buga song, has rendered the decision of the lower Tribunal a nullity.
“The tribunal in its judgment erred in law in returning the 1st respondent as the duly elected candidate without due regard to the enormity of the voters in the units where the results were cancelled for overvoting.”
At the hearing of the appeal, Ikpeazu argued that the tribunal did not base its judgment on the data on INEC’s Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines and the certified extracts which gave a clear lead to Adeleke even if some polling unit results were cancelled. He also argued that a member of the tribunal did not read her judgment as required by Nigeria’s Constitution and the rules of court.
But Fagbemi countered Ikpeazu, saying that the typed document of the judgement stated the decision of the court, adding that “Our position has always been that not all registered voters were accredited by BVAS.”
INEC had on Sunday, July 17, 2022, declared Adeleke as the winner of the Osun State Governorship Election, having won in 17 of the state’s 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs). Oyetola won in the remaining 13 LGAs.
Adeleke polled 403,371 votes to defeat his APC rival, with the then-incumbent governor, Oyetola polling 375,027 votes; a difference of about 44,426 votes in the stoutly contested election which had 15 governorship candidates.
