Osun Guber: Scores Of judgement As Adeleke, Oyetola Battle In Court

The gubernatorial election in Osun State held on September 22, 2018, has been characterised with litigations. The candidate of the PDP in the election, Sen. Ademola Adeleke, who narrowly won the ticket of the party in a controversial primary, has been at the centre of litigations in and out of his party, as well as within and outside the state.

The latest is the ruling of the Court of Appeal Court, Akure Division, Ondo State, which was in favour of Adeleke. His eligibility was challenged in several courts. The issue of his eligibility started shortly after the PDP primary where he defeated Dr. Akin Ogunbiyi with a few votes. But the Court of Appeal judges, Justices M.A Danjuma, R.M Abdullahi and P.A Mahmoud, in their ruling, said Adeleke was qualified to contest the election.

In the beginning, in an attempt to dislodge Adeleke so that Ogunbiyi would get the PDP ticket, Ogunbiyi’s supporters insisted that Adeleke could not contest because of educational qualification. To achieve their aim, they dragged Adeleke to the Osogbo High Court. The plaintiffs (some members of the PDP in Osun) claimed that Adeleke did not possess a secondary school certificate and so urged the court to restrain PDP from presenting him to the INEC as a candidate of the party.

They also urged the court to restrain INEC from accepting Adeleke from PDP as its candidate on the basis that the senator was not qualified, quoting Section 177 (d) of the 1999 Constitution.

But the court presided over by Justice David Oladimeji, dismissed the suit on the basis that Nigeria’s constitution only stipulated that the candidate must be educated up to secondary school level and that the plaintiff also admitted that Adeleke attended Ede Grammar School.

Therefore, the judge struck out the case, saying whether Adeleke obtained a certificate or not could not be used to disqualify him and that the fact that he attended the school was enough for him to contest.

With the judgement of Justice Oladimeji of the Osogbo High Court, the coast was clear for Adeleke to contest; which he did.

However, another set of people went to another High Court in Osogbo to institute the same case; that Adeleke was not eligible to contest. The second case on the same matter was instituted by Awosiyan Olalekan Kingsley and four others seeking the court to decide the issue of Adeleke’s eligibility to contest as the candidate of the PDP.

Counsel to Adeleke, Niyi Owolade, a former Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General in Osun State, said a High Court could not hear an issue that had already been decided by a High Court. Owolade said the Osogbo High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear the matter after the same matter was decided by another High Court and the judgement was not appealed.

However, the second Osogbo High Court declared that it could hear the case despite the subsisting judgement of a High Court in Osogbo. Therefore, Adeleke ran to the Court of Appeal, Akure, to determine whether the second High Court could hear the matter that had already been decided by the first High Court.

In the appeal in suit no CA/AK/106/9, the Court of Appeal ruled that the second Osogbo High Court had no jurisdiction to hear the matter and that the plaintiff had no locus standi to file the case and also that the suit was filed outside the stipulated 14 days after the conduct of the PDP governorship primary.

Before the judgement of the Court of Appeal, a High Court of the Federal Capital Territory in Bwari, Abuja, had nullified Adeleke’s nomination as PDP candidate for the Osun election.

In his judgment in the suit challenging Adeleke’s qualification to contest for the office of governor, Justice Othman Musa held that the plaintiffs were able to prove that Adeleke did not possess the minimum qualification of being educated up to the secondary level as stipulated under Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution.

Justice Musa held that the court’s findings showed that Adeleke was admitted into Ede Muslim High School, Ede, Osun State, in 1976, but that there was no record showing that he graduated as his name was not seen in the school’s register from 1980.

He added that the result Adeleke attached to his form CF001 which he submitted to INEC was fake, as it was found to be different from the one presented to the court by the Principal of Ede Muslim High School, Ede, where he claimed to have graduated.

Adeleke’s lawyer, Nathaniel Oke (SAN), said the judgement of the Akure division of the Court of Appeal had knocked out the judgement of the Bwari High Court and rendered its conclusion ineffective, null and void with no effect on Adeleke’s candidacy in the Osun election.

Oke said, “This same case was called out of time and therefore caught by limitation of time rule of 14 days within which a litigant on re-election matters can institute a case or a maximum of 180 days to hear and determine the case. These same arguments that were presented but ignored in the Bwari case have now been upheld by the Appeal Court ruling.”

Prior to this, the Osun State Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja had declared Adeleke as the winner of the Osun governorship election. The tribunal ruled that Ademola Adeleke fulfilled the constitutional requirements to be declared winner of the Osun State governorship election because Adeleke scored the majority of the lawful votes cast in the September 22, 2018, governorship election.

In the lead judgment by Justice Peter Chudi Obiarah, the tribunal further held that the re-run in seven polling units on September 27, was null and void and of “no electoral effect.”

Therefore, the tribunal ordered that the certificate of return issued to Gov. Gboyega Oyetola of the APC was nullified and withdrawn and ordered INEC to issue a fresh certificate of return to Adeleke as the duly elected governor.

The tribunal stated that the INEC returning officer who cancelled the seven units on September 22, 2018, leading to the re-run on September 27, 2018, acted illegally against INEC’s manual and guidelines for the election.

Adeleke of the PDP had polled 254, 698 votes against Gboyega Oyetola’s 254, 345 votes before the election was declared inconclusive. The verdict of Justice Obiorah agreed with by Justice Adegboye Ayinla Gbolagunte, making it a split decision of two to one as the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Muhammed Ibrahim Sirajo, delivered a minority judgment disagreeing with the conclusions of the two judges.

Justice Sirajo dismissed Adeleke’s petition in his dissenting judgement, saying that the petitioners failed to prove their claims at the tribunal, and ruled that where it was established that there was non-compliance, the tribunal did not have “the powers to subtract the votes of the non-compliance and declare a candidate winner.”

Justice Sirajo, however, advised INEC to only comply with the majority decisions concurrently delivered by Justices Peter Chudi Obiorah and Adegboye Ayinla Gbolagunte.

Sen. Adeleke, while reacting to his victory at the tribunal, described the majority judgement as a landmark, saying the victory was the beginning of good things to come in Osun and Nigeria.

“My message to Osun people is that while they are happy celebrating, they should be calm, peaceful and law-abiding,” he said.

Gov. Oyetola reacted immediately and appealed against the judgement. In a statement, the Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr. Wole Oyebamiji, said justice would prevail.

“The Government of the State of Osun wishes to appreciate the teeming support of the majority of the people in all things essential for mutual progress. As it is, the administration of His Excellency, Mr. Adegboyega Oyetola, Governor, State of Osun, wishes to assure the people that the judgment of the election tribunal has been put on appeal.

“This is to further assure all the residents of the state of adequate security of lives and property as the government of the state is still the only legitimate government having the authority to govern the state. We assure all our people that justice will prevail at last, and the law enforcement agencies have been instructed to maintain law and order across the state.

“We, therefore, urge all the residents of the state to go about their lawful duties without any hindrance,” Oyebamiji said.

As it is now, the people of Osun State are eager to know the outcome of the legal fireworks. The Court of Appeal is expected to decide the appeal of Gov. Oyetola within 60 days from the day the tribunal delivered its judgement.

But certainly, the matter will not end at the appeal court as either Adeleke or Oyetola will head for the Supreme Court.