Osun Guber Petition: Tribunal Reserves Judgment On Adeleke, Oyetola

Emmanuel AmudaMarch 7, 2019

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The candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adeleke and his party have urged the state governorship election tribunal to uphold their petition.

The two petitioners made the plea on Thursday before the Osun State Governorship Election Tribunal sitting in Apo, Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that PDP and Adeleke are challenging the declaration of Gov. Gboyega Oyetola as the winner of the Sept. 22/27, 2018 governorship election.

They alleged that the election was marred with massive rigging, over voting and vote buying and was not conducted by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in compliance with the law.

Joined as respondents in the petition are INEC, Gov. Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress (APC).

At the tribunal’s sitting on Thursday, parties adopted their final written addresses, after which Counsel to INEC, Lasco Pwahomdi, called for the dismissal of the petition.

Pwahomdi told the tribunal that the dismissal should be done with substantial cost in favour of INEC.

According to him, the petitioners had woefully failed to establish the petition as required by the law.

Also, Counsel to Oyetola, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), in his final written address described the petition as “a bedlam full of confusions.’’

Olanipekun said that the petitioners presented a different case from what was contained in their pleadings and reliefs sought.

He maintained that electoral jurisprudence was about proof in accordance with the law and precedence.

In a similar manner, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN), Counsel to APC said the testimonies of all the 63 polling agents called by the petitioners had no probative value.

He submitted that the petitioners merely dumped documents before the tribunal without proofs.

However, Counsel to the petitioners, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN), urged the tribunal to grant the reliefs sought by Adeleke and PDP.

Ikpeazu argued that the petitioners did not dump documents on the tribunal as claimed by Olujinmi.

He said all documents were sufficiently demonstrated by witnesses previously called by the petitioners.

After listening to the submissions of parties, the Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Sirajo Mohammed, adjourned judgment until a date that he said would be communicated to all parties.