Adeleke vows to appeal against today's decision nullifying his election as governor

GOVERNOR Ademola Adeleke has vowed to fight today's decision which annulled his election July 16 2022 victory at the polls electing him as Osun State governor in the Court of Appeal saying the verdict was a miscarriage of justice.

Last year, Governor Adeleke was declared the winner of the Osun State gubernatorial elections, with the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) giving him got a total of 403,371 votes beating the incumbent Gboyega Oyetola who got 375,027 votes in the keenly-contested race. However, Governor Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) took the matter to the election petitions tribunal and won a favourable decision today.

This afternoon, the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Osogbo overturned Governor Adeleke's victory on the grounds of over-voting. Led by Justice Tertsea Kume, the tribunal noted that although the APC’s claim of over-voting was not complete, it agreed that there was evidence of some over-voting in the election.

However, the tribunal dismissed the case of certificate forgery against Governor Adeleke, ruling he is academically qualified to contest as Osun State governor. Reacting to the judgement, Governor Adeleke, speaking through his spokesman, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, described it as a miscarriage of justice.

Mallam Rasheed said: “The executive governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke has described the judgement of the governorship tribunal as  a miscarriage of justice, vowing to challenge the ruling at the Court of Appeal. Reacting to the verdict of the Tribunal from his country home, Ede, Governor Adeleke faulted the resolution of the over-voting question in favour of Mr Oyetola, calling it an unfair interpretation against the will of majority of voters”

“While urging his supporters to remain calm, Governor Adeleke vowed to appeal the judgement at the Court of Appeal, insisting he remains the rightful winner of the July 16 election. I call on our people to remain calm.

"We will appeal the judgement and we are sure justice will be done.  Let our people be reassured that we will do everything possible to retain this widely acclaimed mandate."

After deducting invalid votes due to over-voting, Adegboyega Oyetola scored 314, 931 while Governor Ademola Adeleke scored 290, 666, the tribunal held. therefore, the tribunal ruled that Governor Ademola Adeleke was not validly elected and it called on Inec to withdraw his certificate of return.