How election petitions tribunal reached its verdict on Osun Gov poll

In a split judgement , the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Apo , on Friday , nullified the election of the Governor of Osun State , Gboyega Oyetola ; and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to immediately withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to him as winner of the September 2018 election .

However , the chairman of the Tribunal , Justice Ibrahim Sirajo , upheld the whole election .

In the majority judgment delivered by Justice Peter Obiara , the tribunal set aside the rerun election conducted on September 27 , 2018 for being unlawful .
Justice Obiora held that the poll conducted in the seven units is unknown by law because INEC has no power to conduct it .
The tribunal declared candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party ’ , Ademola Adeleke, in the governorship election as the duly elected governor and ordered INEC to immediately issue him the Certificate of Return .
The tribunal agreed that PDP and Adeleke established beyond reasonable doubt that INEC did not comply substantially with the Electoral Act in 17 polling units .
Consequently, over 2 , 000 votes credited to the All Progressives Congress and Governor Oyetola by INEC were deducted by the tribunal, while over 1 , 000 votes said to have been scored by the PDP and its candidate were also removed from their total votes .
The majority judgment held that the returning officer who cancelled the result in the affected units after the announcement had no power to have done so .
NAN reports that Prof . Joseph Fuwape , vice chancellor of the University of Technology , Akure was the Returning Officer for the Sept . 22 election
Fuwape said the election was inconclusive because 3498 votes were cancelled as a result of ballot box snatching that occurred in some polling units during the election .
The affected polling units were Ife North, ( one polling unit ) , Ife south, ( two polling units ) , Orolu , ( three polling units ) and Osogbo , one polling unit .
According to Fuwape , Senator Ademola Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party scored 254 , 698 votes , while Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola , the candidate of the All Progressives Congress , scored 254, 345 votes . He thus called for rerun elections at the polling units where results were cancelled .

The majority judgment after deductions of the votes recorded in the rerun poll gave Adeleke’ s score as 253, 777 and Oyetola ’ s as 253, 476 .

In the minority judgment , Justice Ibrahim Sirajo , Chairman of the tribunal, held that the petitioners , PDP and Adeleke failed to prove how the non – compliance of non -recording in the columns of accredited votes and account of ballots in the result sheets substantially affected the final results .
He further stated that even when non substantial compliance affects the outcome of the election , the tribunal, by virtue of Section 140 ( 2 ) of the Electoral Act , does not have the power to subtract the votes affected by the non – compliance from the scores of the candidates and announce a winner .
According to him the tribunal only has the power to nullify the results of the Polling units affected by the noncompliance and order a supplementary poll .

He concluded that even if the non -compliance was substantial , it was not proved by the petitioners
Earlier, in a ruling on an objection filed against the petition by APC , Oyetola and INEC , the tribunal held that the objection was misconceived and that the tribunal has jurisdiction to entertain the suit .
The objection was consequently dismissed by the tribunal. In a split judgement , the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Apo , on Friday , nullified the election of the Governor of Osun State , Gboyega Oyetola and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to immediately withdraw the Certificate of Return earlier issued to him as winner of the September 2018 Election .

However , the chairman of the Tribunal , Justice Ibrahim Sirajo upheld the whole election .

In the majority Judgment delivered by Justice Peter Obiara , the tribunal set aside the rerun election conducted on September 27 , 2018 for being unlawful .
Justice Obiora held that the poll conducted in the seven units is unknown by law because INEC has no power to conduct it .
The tribunal declared candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party , Ademola Adeleke in the governorship election as the duly elected governor and ordered INEC to immediately issue him with Certificate of Return .

The tribunal agreed that PDP and Adeleke established beyond reasonable doubt that INEC did not comply substantially with the Electoral Act in 17 polling units .
Consequently, over 2 , 000 votes credited to the All Progressives Congress and Governor Oyetola by INEC were deducted from the tribunal , while over 1 , 000 votes said to have been scored by the PDP and its candidate were also removed from their total votes .

The majority judgment held that the returning officer who cancelled the result in the affected units after the announcement had no power to have done so .
NAN reports that Prof . Joseph Fuwape , vice chancellor of the University of Technology , Akure was the Returning Officer for the September 22 election
Fuwape said the election was inconclusive because 3498 votes were cancelled as a result of ballot box snatching that occurred in some polling units during the election .
The affected polling units were Ife North ( one polling unit ) , Ife south ( two polling units ) , Orolu ( three polling units ) and Osogbo ( one polling unit ) .

According to Fuwape , Senator Ademola Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Part scored 254, 698 votes , while Gboyega Oyetola , the candidate of the All Progressives Congress , scored 254, 345 votes . He thus called for rerun elections at the polling units where results were cancelled .

The majority judgment after deductions of the votes recorded in the rerun poll gave Adeleke’ s score as 253, 777 and Oyetola ’ s as 253, 476 .

In the minority judgment , Justice Ibrahim Sirajo , Chairman of the tribunal, held that the petitioners , PDP and Adeleke failed to prove how the non – compliance of non -recording in the columns of accredited votes and account of ballots in the result sheets substantially affected the final results .
He further stated that even when non substantial compliance affects the outcome of the election , the tribunal, by virtue of Section 140 ( 2 ) of the Electoral Act , does not have the power to subtract the votes affected by the non – compliance from the scores of the candidates and announce a winner .
According to him the tribunal only has the power to nullify the results of the Polling units affected by the noncompliance and order a supplementary poll .

He concluded that even if the non -compliance was substantial , it was not proved by the petitioners
Earlier, in a ruling on an objection filed against the petition by APC , Oyetola and INEC , the tribunal held that the objection was misconceived and that the tribunal has jurisdiction to entertain the suit .
The objection was consequently dismissed by the tribunal.
( NAN)

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