Adegboyega Oyetola looks poised for another term as the governor of Osun state after an Election Petition Tribunal declared him the winner of the July 16 contest in the state, effectively nullifying the previous announcement of Ademola Adeleke over an established case of overvoting.
Oyetola petitioned the election’s outcome with the argument that the electoral body, INEC, failed to comply with the Constitution and provisions of the Electoral Act in the processing of the results and the declaration of Adeleke as the winner despite evidence of infractions in multiple polling units.
In a majority decision delivered by Justice Tetsea Kume, the Tribunal upheld Oyetola’s argument. It deducted the overvoting observed before ruling him as the winner having won 314,921 votes to Ademola’s 290,266 votes in the updated results.
The Tribunal further directed INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Ademola Adeleke and give a fresh one to Oyetola as the due winner of the contest.