News Investigators/ The Supreme Court on Monday fixed Tuesday to deliver judgment in the disputed July 16 governorship election tussle in Osun State.
The apex court fixed tomorrow May 9, 2023 after all the parties involved adopted their written briefs in the matter.
It would be recalled that the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division, had affirmed Ademola Adeleke, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate as the winner of the State’s governorship election of July 2022 after it set aside the earlier decision of the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, which nullified the election.
A three-member panel of the appellate court led by Mohammed Shuaibu had unanimously overturned the earlier decision of the election petition tribunal which nullified the governor’s victory in January.
The decision followed a petition by the former governor and All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Adegboyega Oyetola, challenging Mr Adeleke’s victory.
The Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Osogbo, which upheld the allegation of over-voting in the areas won by Mr Adeleke, had declared Mr Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) the winner of the poll after deducting what it considered as unlawful votes from the PDP’s scores.
But Adeleke appealed against the lower court’s decision, urging the appellate court to set it aside and re-affirm his victory.
Upholding Mr Adeleke’s victory, the court of appeal held that the tribunal was wrong to reach the conclusion that there was over-voting during the state governorship election held on July 16, 2022.
The Tribunal , in a lead judgement delivered by Justice Mohammed Lawal , awarded N500,000 cost against the APC and its candidate. Mr Oyetola
Mr Shuaibu who prepared and read the lead decision said the burden of proving the allegations of over-voting lies squarely with Mr Oyetola and the APC.
