Appeal Court Reserves Judgement On Osun Governorship Appeal

The Appeal Court on Monday, reserved judgement to decide on the case by Senator Ademola Adeleke challenging the decision of an election petition tribunal which nullified his victory in the Osun governorship election.

Judgement on the matter will be given at a later date as a three-member panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu takes the arguments and adopts the briefs of all parties in the suit.

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.

Fagbemi further stressed that the findings of over voting were obtained from the back end server of INEC.

In their defense however, Onyechi Ikpeazu held that results stored in the backend server, are inconsistent and unreliable as they can be affected by internet connectivity and battery life of the Bvas used to upload the result.

These two factors according to him can affect the upload.

Adeleke’s counsel also stated that he conducted a physical examination on the Bvas, and it showed that over voting occurred in just six polling units, and not 744 as claimed by the Counsel to Oyetola