The Supreme Court has declared Gboyega Oyetola as duly-elected Governor of Osun State.
In a ruling delivered on Friday, the apex court dismissed the appeals filed by Sen. Ademola Adeleke and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenging the decision of the Court of Appeal that had earlier affirmed Oyetola’s victory in the September 2018 gubernatorial election in Osun.
The panel of judges in a split decision of five to two held that the proceedings and the majority judgment of the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal which had declared the PDP and Adeleke as the winner of the poll were null and void.
According to Justice Bode Rhodes – Vivour, who read the lead majority judgment of the apex court, the absence of Justice Peter Obiorah who later read the lead judgment of the tribunal during the February 6, 2019 hearing, rendered the entire proceedings of the said tribunal and its judgment a nullity.
While Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, and three other justices consented to the lead majority judgment, Justice Kumai Akaahs and Justice Paul Galinje affirmed PDP’s victory in the poll.
Details later…