(Revealed) Why Tribunal Sacked Osun Governor, Adeleke

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Sunday, July 17, declared Adeleke, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as the winner of the 2022 governorship election in Osun state.

Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the returning officer, read out the results of the election. According to Ogundipe, Adeleke secured 403, 371 votes to defeat his closest challenger, Oyetola, who polled 375,027 votes.

The PDP candidate was said to have won 17 LGAs while the incumbent governor secured victory in 13 LGAs.

However, in August 2022, Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) rejected the result and petitioned the tribunal to challenge Adeleke’s victory.

Among several issues, Oyetola contended that there was overvoting in 749 polling units across 10 LGAs of the state. Giving its verdict on Friday, the tribunal ruled in favour of Oyetola and annulled the result of the July 16 Osun governorship poll.

Delivering the majority ruling, Justice Tetsea Kume declared that INEC did not comply substantially with the constitution and the provisions of the Electoral Act.

The tribunal held that the governorship election was characterized by over-voting.

It said after deducting the excessive votes, the figure Oyetola polled at the election was 314, 921 while that of Adeleke came down to 290, 266.

The tribunal, therefore, ordered that Oyetola should be returned as governor of Osun state while it ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return from Adeleke.

Meanwhile, though the tribunal has sacked Adeleke, he is expected to appeal the ruling of the tribunal and will remain in office pending the final determination of the matter by superior courts; the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court