The Appeal Court on Monday, reserved its judgement on the case brought by Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun state, challenging the judgment of an election petition tribunal which nullified his victory in the Osun governorship election.
In the ruling by a three-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, on Monday, the court ruled that the matter will be fixed for a later date for a decision.
The New Diplomat reports that during proceedings today, Counsel to Adeleke, Onyechi Ikpeazu, held that a member of the panel, who is also a Chief Magistrate, did not air her opinion during the judgement delivery. Rather, she only appended her signature and the constitution mandates her to have aired her views about the suit.
Counsel to Mr Oyetola, Lateef Fagbemi, however, held that mere signing of the judgment, and not making any comment afterwards does not make the judgment invalid.
He noted that the case of over-voting exceeded 6 polling units as claimed by the appellant, adding that the anomaly was experienced in 744 polling units across the state.
It would be recalled that Adeleke who is candidate of the People’s Democratic Party had been declared winner of the governorship election which held on 16 July, 2022.
However, the result was nullified on the grounds of over-voting. While delivering the judgement, two out of the three-member panel of the tribunal held that Oyetola proved that there was over-voting in some of the polling units.
