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| Gboyega Oyetola , Ademola Adeleke |
The Appeal Court sitting in Abuja has declared Governor Gboyega Oyetola as the winner of last year’s gubernatorial election in Osun State. A five-member panel of the appeal court led by Justice Jummai Sankey delivered the lead judgement which favoured Governor Oyetola on the grounds that the tribunal’s ruling read by Justice Peter Obiora amounted to judicial hearsay because he did not participate fully in the proceedings of the Tribunal.
The Appeal Court also said that the entire proceeding leading to the tribunal’s judgement could not stand because of its “faulty composition.”
Justice Sankey noted that the matter ought not to be returned to the tribunal for the fact that it was a post-election case where time for its adjudication could not be expanded or elongated. Therefore, she ruled that the appellate court
could not order a fresh trial by the lower tribunal.
However, the lead judgement read by Justice Sankey was, however, dissented by a member of the five-man panel, Justice George Mbamba, who said the allegation that Justice Obiora did not attend all the sessions of the Tribunal was speculative. He maintained that the records of the Tribunal’s proceedings indicated that the judge did participate in all the hearings because he signed at the beginning of the days’ proceedings.
On that basis, the dissenting judge not only dismissed Governor Oyetola’s appeal but slammed him with a cost of N200,000. Despite Justice Mbamba’s dissenting judgement, Justice Sankey went further to resolve 11 other issues contained in the appeal in favour of Governor Oyetola, the appellant.
She declared that Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, who is the petitioner, did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that there was substantial non-compliance to the Electoral Act by the absence of the ballot paper records.
This declaration has now set aside the victory of Senator Adeleke at the Osun governorship Election Tribunal. Recall that an Osun State Election tribunal had earlier declared Ademola Adeleke, winner of the controversial election, saying that the September 27 rerun election in the state illegal. The three-man panel of the tribunal gave the judgement following the petition filed by Senator Adeleke against the All Progressives Congress, APC and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.
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FACEBOOK COMMENTS
Endy Edeson
Conrad: This is the last bus stop for the senator. He tried to reclaim his "mandate" but unfortunately he isnt lucky to scale through
Conrad Agbebaku
Those charges are too grave to allow him become a governor even for a day.Na bad market
Omoba Morenikeji Muh'Jamiu Babatunde
Congratulations
Conrad Agbebaku
Even if he goes to the supreme Court ,the alleged certificate scandal will keep surfacing and he would have no option but retreat and surrender.For now he has no immunity so he will still have his day in court after his medical trip
