The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has appealed the judgment of the Osun State election petition tribunal which nullified the election of the state governor, Mr. Ademola Adeleke.
INEC filed the petition yesterday at the Court of Appeal in Akure, through its lawyer, Mr. Paul Ananaba.
Recall that the tribunal had on January 27 sacked Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and announced the former governor, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the winner of the July 16, 2022 poll.
Two out of the three-member panel of the tribunal held that Oyetola was able to prove that there was over-voting in some of the polling units.
The tribunal ruled that INEC should revoke the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and issued same to Oyetola after deducting illegal votes from 774 polling units where the litigants alleged over voting.
The tribunal ruled that Oyetola had scored 314,931 legal votes to Adeleke’s 290,666 instead of 375,027 and 403,371 respectfully earlier declared by INEC.
In the notice of appeal dated January 30, 2023, INEC hinged the appeal was hinged on 44 grounds.
Respondents in the case are Oyetola, the APC, Adeleke and the PDP.
INEC stated that the tribunal erred in law having failed to rule on the preliminary objection filed by the first respondent/appellant, challenging the competency of the petition and jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the petition only to proceed to rule on the merit of the petition.
“The lower Tribunal erred in law, when they failed to consider and rule on the various preliminary objections filed by the 1st Respondent/Appellant challenging the competency of the petition and jurisdiction of the Election Petition Tribunal to hear the Petition but proceeded to determine the merit of the Petition,” the commission stated.
On the particulars of error, INEC stated that, “It is trite in law that preliminary objections that touch on the competency of the petition and the jurisdiction of the Tribunal is a threshold issue, which must be determined before the Tribunal can assume jurisdiction to determine the merit of the petition.
“The preliminary objections filed by the 1st Respondent Appellant were adjourned to be delivered alongside the judgment on the Petition. iii. The Honourable Tribunal ought to determine the preliminary objections of the 1st Respondent before going into the merit of the Petition. iv. Failure of the Tribunal to consider and deciding the preliminary objections of the 1st Respondent/Appellant amounts to a denial of fair hearing and occasioned a miscarriage of justice as the objections would have terminated the life of the Petition in limine.
“The judgment delivered by the lower Tribunal for the conduct of the Osun state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting at Osogbo on Friday the 27th day of January, 2023 is a nullity. The judgment is not a complete judgment of the said Election Petition. Tribunal Member 2 was one of the members of the said Tribunal, who heard the Petition but did not reduce her judgment or opinion in writing capable of being delivered on the day fixed for the delivery of the judgment.
“Each of the members of the Tribunal must express his/her opinion in writing. The judgment is a breach of Section 294 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended). The Judgment delivered by HON. TERTSEA AORGA KUME J. was jointly signed on the last page of the judgment by the Tribunal Member 2 RABI BASHIR (Chief Magistrate).
“Section 294 (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria does not admit of joint judgments. The judgment of the Tribunal herein is incurably a nullity for being in breach of the said Section 294 (1) and (2) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
