Osun governorship poll: Supreme Court hears Adeleke, PDP’s appeal today

The Supreme Court will today (Monday) hear the appeals by the Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate in the September 2018 governorship election in Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, challenging the victory of the Governor of the state, Adegboyega Oyetola and his All Progressives Congress at the poll.

Adeleke’s lead counsel, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), who said his team had received the hearing notice in respect of today’s proceedings, confirmed this to our correspondent on Sunday.

The appellants are by their appeal challenging the May 9, 2019 majority judgment of the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal which affirmed Oyetola’s victory at the September 2018 poll.

By a split decision of two to one, the three-man tribunal had in its verdict delivered on March 22, 2019 nullified the election of Oyetola and his party and declared Adeleke and his Peoples Democratic Party, as the true winner.

But on May 9, 2019, the Court of Appeal, in a four to one split decision of its five-man panel led by Justice Jummai Sankey, nullified the majority verdict of the tribunal.

Justice Sankey along with three other members of the panel, Justices Abubakar Yahaya, Isaiah Akeju and Bitrus Sanga, adopted the majority judgments on the three appeals which went in favour of the APC and its candidate.

But another member of the panel, Justice George Mbaba, dissented from the majority judgments in the three appeals.

Justice Mbaba went on to dismiss the three appeals filed by Oyetola, the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission and upheld the majority judgment of the tribunal which declared Adeleke and the PDP as the true winner.

Both the PDP and Adeleke appealed to the Supreme Court against the majority decision of the Court of Appeal.