The Election Petition Tribunal has declared the July 22 governorship election null and void.
The tribunal, in its judgment on Friday in Osogbo, directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to withdraw the certificate of return from Governor Ademola Adeleke and his deputy, Kola Adewusim of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The panel led by Justice Terste Kume also directed that the certificate of return should be issued to Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Justice Kume held that the governorship election was not held in compliance with the Electoral Act.
The tribunal held that the governorship election was characterized by over-voting. It said after deducting the excess votes, the figures Mr Oyetola polled at the election was 314, 921.
The tribunal, thus, ordered that Mr Oyetola should be returned as governor of Osun State.
Mr Adeleke had been declared the winner with a total of 403,371 votes. He won in 17 of the 30 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state.
Mr Oyetola of the APC won in the remaining 13 LGAs with 375,027 votes
Fifteen candidates contested for the governorship election but it was keenly contested between Mr Adeleke and Mr Oyetola.
In his petition, Mr Oyetola claimed that the election was characterized by over-votings in 749 polling units.
He also argued that Mr Adeleke forged the academic credentials he submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to contest for the election.
Background
The tribunal panel started sitting around August 2022, a few weeks after the governorship election.
Mr Oyetola and the APC are petitioners in the case with Lateef Fagbemi and Akin Olujimi as their lead counsel.
INEC was the first defendant, Mr Adeleke was the second respondent and PDP was the third defendant.
Paul Ananaba is the counsel to INEC, Alex Iziyon is the counsel to PDP and Onyechi Ikpeazu is the counsel to Mr Adeleke.
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