Following the judgement of the Appeal Court that affirmed his victory as the duly elected Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke has described the outcome as “no victor no vanquished”.
Speaking shortly after the judgement at his Ede country home, the Governor said Osun belong to all irrespective of political or religion affiliation.
Recall that the Court of Appeal in Abuja has set aside the decision of the Osun State Governorship tribunal, and upheld the governorship of senator Adeleke. The appellate court upturned the judgment of the election petition tribunal which declared Gboyega Oyetola as governor.
Delivering judgment in the appeal filed by Adeleke yesterday, a three-member panel of justices held that the election tribunal erred when it ruled that the 1st and 2nd respondents (Gboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress) proved their allegation of over-voting. According to the panel of judges, Adeleke is the duly elected governor of the State.
The Osun State governorship election tribunal, in January, held that Oyetola was able to prove that there was over-voting in some of the polling units.
Consequently, the majority judgment of the tribunal ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and issue a fresh one to Oyetola as the duly elected governor of Osun. Dissatisfied with the ruling, Adeleke appealed the judgment at the Court of Appeal. The court also issued a fine of N500,000 in favour of Adeleke.
Adeleke urged members of the opposition party to cooperate with his administration to move the state to the next level.
