The Delta State Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa has congratulated Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Osun State on his victory at the Appeal Court.

Governor Okowa, said the Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which nullified Adeleke’s election earlier, did not do justice to the case.

He commended the three-man panel of the Appellate Court for setting aside the judgment of the Election Tribunal.

The Governor said that “the judgment of the Appeal Court was a victory for the nation’s democracy and a reaffirmation of the responsibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to act as an unbiased umpire.”

“I welcome the judgment of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on the Osun Governorship Election Petition with immense joy and appreciation to the judiciary for doing justice on the matter.

“This ruling has once again reaffirmed the powers and responsibility of INEC to act as an unbiased umpire, especially in dealing with the issues of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System, BVAS.

“This is in checking over-voting and non-compliance with the Electoral Act.
“I must commend the courage and sagacity exhibited by the three-man panel of the Appeal Court, which ruled that the petitioners failed to prove their allegation of over-voting and substantial non-compliance,” he said.

According to Governor Okowa, this victory is coming at a time when the Osun people have embraced the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as their party, which they rightly voted for in all the National and State Assembly elections in the just-concluded General Elections.

“This victory is for all Osun people as, indeed, light has come to outshine the forces of darkness.

“On behalf of my family, the government and the people of Delta, I congratulate my brother, Gov. Ademola Adeleke, on this reassuring victory.”

An Election Petition Tribunal in Osun had on January 27, 2023, sacked Ademola Adeleke from office, after the former governor, Gboyega Oyetola and his party, the All Progressives Party, APC had in August 2022, petitioned the tribunal to challenge the election victory of Adeleke.

Among several issues, Oyetola contended that there was over-voting in 749 polling units across 10 local government areas of the state.

He also said that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate did not score the majority of lawful votes during the July 16, 2022, Governorship polls.

The former governor argued that Mr Adeleke forged the academic credentials he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest for the election.

However, in a unanimous agreement by a three-man panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu on Friday, the Court of Appeal quashed the tribunal’s judgement and gave its verdict to uphold Adeleke as the rightful Governor of Osun State.

The panel held that the Osun State Tribunal was wrong to have said that “there waovervotingng, a claim that only relied on the evidence by Oyetola and the APC, and as such, doesn’t prove their case in any way.”

The judge faulted Oyetola and APC, that they only relied on the data from the back-end server and failed to look at the voters register which forms the foundation of the whole electoral process and as such, cannot strengthen their allegations of over-voting.

On the issue of jurisdiction, the court resolved in favour of Adeleke stating that according to section 285(8) of the constitution, as amended, the court has every right to entertain the appeal.

The court also awarded the sum of N500,000 against the All Progressive Congress, and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola.

The former Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, has, however, asked his supporters to remain calm after the Appeal court’s judgement.