By Dennis Erezi
The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) seeking to restore the nullification of the participation of Osun’s ex-governor Gboyega Oyetola and his deputy Benedict Alabi in the July 16, 2022 governorship election.
A five-member panel of the Supreme Court led by Justice Centus Nweze on Thursday held that the appeal by the PDP lacked merit and directed the counsel to the PDP Kehinde Ogunwumiju to withdraw it.
The court held that the PDP could not, under the law, question the process leading to the emergence of Oyetola and Alabi as candidates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the election.
Justice Emeka Nwite of the Federal High Court in Abuja had in a judgment on September 30, 2022, nullified the participation of Oyetola and Alabi in the governorship election on the grounds that their nomination forms were endorsed by an acting Chairman of APC, who was also a serving governor of Yobe State, Mai Mala Buni.
Justice Nwite’s judgment was set aside by the Court of Appeal, Abuja in a judgment in December last year, a decision the PDP appealed to the Supreme Court.
Oyetola lost the Osun State governorship to Ademola Adeleke, candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) after polling 375,027 votes while Adeleke of the PDP claimed 403,371 votes, according to result by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
However, the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal last week sacked Adeleke as the state governor and declared Gboyega as the winner of the governorship election.
Justice Tetsea Kume, while delivering a majority decision declared that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) did not comply substantially with the Constitution and the provisions of the Electoral Act.
He subsequently deducted the over-voting observed from the votes scored by the candidates and declared that Oyetola won the election, having polled 314, 921, while Adeleke’s score came down to 290, 266.
The judge directed INEC to withdraw Adeleke’s certificate of return and issued another one to Oyetola who won a majority of the lawful votes.
Source: The Guardian
