Oyetola Asks Appeal Court To Reverse Tribunal’s Decision
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State, has asked the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal to set-aside the tribunal judgment that declared Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, as the valid winner of the gubernatorial election that held in the state in September 2018.
In his 39-ground of appeal, Oyetola, urged the appellate court to reverse the majority decision of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that sacked him from office, describing it as “perverse”.
He challenged the powers of the tribunal to invalidate the outcome of the September 27, 2018, re-run election that led to his emergence as winner of the Osun governorship contest.
It will be recalled that the tribunal had in a two-to-one split judgment it delivered on March 22, upheld a petition that Adeleke and the PDP lodged against the declaration and return of Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as winner, based on the outcome of the supplementary governorship election.
It will be recalled that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, had at the end of an initial election it conducted on September 22, cancelled results from seven polling units in four Local Government Areas in the state, and ordered a re-run poll. However, in the lead verdict that was delivered by Justice Peter Obiora, the tribunal, noted that none of the parties disputed the fact that it was the State Returning Officer that cancelled the initial election
The tribunal held that the State Returning Officer acted beyond the power that was allocated to him under the Electoral Act when he voided results and ordered supplementary election in the affected areas.
“We hold that the cancellation was unlawful and ultra-vires of his powers.
The cancellation cannot stand, being a product of illegality”, the tribunal held.
Besides, the tribunal said the onus was on Presiding Officers in polling units where alleged electoral infractions took place, to cancel the result and report same to Ward Collation Officers.
It held that upon receipt of the complaints, the Collation Officer was mandated by the law to fill Form EC40G and submit to the Local Government Collation Officer who will in turn transfer the information in the Form EC40GI and hand same over to the State Collation Returning Officer.
The tribunal held that in the absence of evidence that it was Presiding Officers of the seven Polling Units that cancelled the results, the action of the State Returning Officer amounted to an act of illegality. Maintaining that the petitioners successfully established a case of non compliance in 17 polling units during the initial election of September 22, 2018, the tribunal, went ahead and deducted votes that were credited to both PDP and APC in those units.
Specifically, the tribunal, deducted a total of 2029 votes that was credited to APC in the 17 polling units, as well as a total of 1246 votes that was recorded in favour of the PDP.
After it had deducted the illegal votes from both sides, the panel held that Adeleke got a total of 253,777 valid votes, ahead of Oyetola who it said got 253,476 valid votes in the September 22, poll.
The tribunal went ahead and nullified the Certificate of Return that was issued to Oyetola by INEC, and ordered the issuance of a fresh one to Adeleke.
Though a third member of the panel, Justice Ayinla Gbolagunte, concurred with the lead judgment and also declared Adeleke winner of the Osun governorship election, however, Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo, said he disagreed with the verdict, insisting that the petition lacked merit and ought to be dismissed.
Justice Sirajo held that the tribunal lacked the powers to subtract votes that were declared invalid.
He held that under section 140 of the Electoral Act, the tribunal was only empowered to order a re-run or fresh election where it was established that there was substantial non compliance to the Electoral Act.
