Civil Servants Welcome Adeleke After Appeal Court Judgment

Workers in the Civil Service of the State of Osun, on Monday, trooped out to welcome Governor Ademola Adeleke, to the State Secretariat after the Appeal Court Judgment, that upheld his victory in the July 16, 2022 governorship election.

Adeleke, who acknowledged cheers from his admirers from his vehicle, promised to keep the flag flying and always prioritise the welfare of the workers.

The Appeal Court had last Friday, March 24 declared that January 27 verdict of the Election Petition Tribunal that sacked the Governor and pronounced former Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, winner of the guber election, on the grounds of over-voting and certificate forgery.

Delivering the unanimous judgement, Justice Lawal stressed that the tribunal was wrong to have rejected the judgment of the Court of Appeal that cleared Adeleke of forgery.

The appellate court noted that the grounds raised on the adoption of the INEC server report as against that of the BVAS machines used for the election. It stated that the BVAS machines remained the primary source for the results collated manually and transmitted to the server.

The court ruled that the tribunal only relied on the table provided by Oyetola and the APC, to give judgment in their favour, which was not enough to prove over-voting.

Justice Lawal said for the defendants to prove over-voting, the voters register must be tendered as it is intrinsically part of accreditation, according to Section 137 of the Electoral Act.

On the issue of Governor Adeleke’s certificate, the court of appeal declared that Oyetola’s witness was not an expert which he held himself out to be at the tribunal. It said the Principal Witness 1, Rasak Adeosun who claimed to be an expert, did not give evidence of his qualifications, as well as deny his membership of the APC, making his evidence barren.

The Judge announced the decision of the Court of Appeal to set aside the tribunal judgment of 27th January and affirmed the victory of Gov. Ademola Adeleke.