The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal by candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last governorship election in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
The Supreme Court, in a majority decision of five-to-two, read by Justice Olabode Rodes-Vivour, held that the failure of a member of the election tribunal, Justice Peter Obiora to sit on February 6, 2019 rendered the entire proceedings and the judgment given by the tribunal a nullity.
The court upheld the majority judgment of the Court of Appeal, which upheld the victory Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the Governor of Osun State.
Details shortly.
Tag: adeleke
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BREAKING: Supreme Court affirms Oyetola winner of Osun governorship election
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Osun Guber: Supreme Court decides Oyetola, Adeleke’s fate today
The Supreme Court will today deliver judgment in the appeals brought before it by the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2018 governorship election in Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, challenging the judgement of the Court of Appeal, Abuja, which affirmed the election of Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as the governor of the state.
Adeleke’s four appeals, marked: SC/553/2019; SC/554/2019; SC/555/2019 and SC/556/2019 are challenging the May 9, 2019 judgments of the Appeal Court, which held that Oyetola was validly elected as governor of Osun State.
The appellate court had also set aside the majority judgment of the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal which had allowed Adeleke’s petition and declared him the winner of the election.
Adeleke had, in his appeals prayed the apex court to set aside the ruling of the appeal court and uphold the decision of the Tribunal, which declared him as the validly elected governor of Osun State.
Osun State Election Governorship Election Petition Tribunal had ruled that Senator Adeleke was the rightful winner of the 2018 governorship election, having satisfied the constitutional requirements of majority votes and spread across the local government areas of the state.
The tribunal also nullified the rerun election of September 27, 2018.
The Appeal Court had reversed the ruling, nullifying the decisions of the tribunal and reinstating Oyetola as the winner of the said election.
At the last sitting on the matter, the court took submissions from Adeleke’s counsel, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) and Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN) for the 1st respondent (Oyetola) in respect of appeal marked: SC/553/2019.
The court said its judgment in the main appeal – SC/553/2019 – will be applied to two other similar one, filed by Adeleke against the Court of Appeal’s decision in relation to the appeals filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the APC, marked: SC/554/2019 and SC/555/2019.
The court also took arguments from Ikpeazu (for the appellant), Yusuf Ali (SAN) for INEC; Bode Olanipekun (SAN) for Oyetola and Olumide Olujinmi, for APC in relation to the fourth appeal, marked: SC/556/2019.
In their arguments, counsel to the respondents – INEC, Oyetola and the APC faulted Adeleke’s appeals and prayed the court to dismiss them for lacking in merit and uphold the judgments as given on May 9, 2019 by the Court of Appeal in Abuja, which affirmed Oyetola of the APC as the winner of the governorship election held in September 2018.
In relation to the first set of appeals – SC/553/2019; SC554/2019 and SC/555/2019, Ikpeazu urged the court to set aside the judgments of the Court of Appeal and restore the majority judgment given in his client’s favour by the election tribunal.
In a counter-argument, Wole Olanipekun, Ali and Olunijmi faulted the competence of the appeals and urged the court to dismiss them for lacking in merit and to uphold the May 9 judgments given in favour of the respondents by the Court of Appeal.
In arguing the fourth appeal: SC/556/2019, Ikpeazu urged the court to set aside the two concurrent judgments of the election tribunal and the Court of Appeal, in which both courts rejected Adeleke’s request to void the supplementary election held after INEC declared the Osun governorship election inconclusive.
Ikpeazu said his client’s contention was that INEC lacked the powers to have canceled elections in some pooling units and order a rerun, arguing that the supplementary election was unnecessary because Adeleke had won the election and met the constitutional requirement to be declared a winner.
Ikpeazu prayed the court to set aside the Paragraph 44 of the INEC’s Guideline, on which basis the supplementary election was held, on the grounds that it conflicted with the constitution.
Olanipekun’s son, Bode Olanipekun (SAN) argued the fourth appeal for Oyetola and urged the court to disregard Ikpeazu’s contention that the supplementary election was unnecessary and said that Paragraph 44 of INEC Guidelines was not in conflict with the constitution.
Olanipekun, who noted that Section 178(4) of the Constitution provides that the entire state is the constituency for a governorship election and added that “where elections have not held in the entire state, the appellant cannot contend that he won the election, as against the 2nd respondent (Oyetola), who won the election as conducted across the whole of the state.”
Counsels to INEC and the APC argued in a similar vein, with Ali (for INEC) arguing that Ikpeazu’s submission on reliefs 8and 9 of his client (Adeleke’s) petition, overlooked the fact that election tribunal is special tribunal with limited jurisdiction to determine whether somebody was properly returned in an election.
“The quarrel of the appellant is against a concurrent finding of two lowers courts. There are no compelling reasons to make this court interfere with the concurrent findings of the two lower courts,” Ali said.
Olujinmi urged the court to be guided by its earlier decision in the case of Faleke v. INEC 2016 8 NWLR, part 1543 pg 61, in which this court affirmed the limited scope of the jurisdiction of the election tribunal.
He noted that even though Adeleke and his party, the PDP are aware of this court’s decision in that case (Faleke case), but have failed to approach the court for departure on its position on that issue. -
Oyetola vs Adeleke: Police beef up security as Supreme Court delivers judgement tomorrow
The Osun State Police Command, on Thursday, said security has been beefed up in the state to prevent any breakdown of law and order ahead of Friday’s Supreme Court’s judgment on the 2018 Osun governorship election.
The command’s spokesperson, DSP Folashade Odoro, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the police are fully prepared for the outcome.
“Officers have been placed on red alert and are pro-active to prevent any kind of violence or demonstration in the state.
“We will, however, want to urge people of the state to maintain law and order and go about their lawful businesses without fear or intimidation,” she said.
NAN reports that the Peoples Democratic Party and its candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, had challenged the victory of the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Governor Gboyega Oyetola at the Osun 2018 Governorship Election Tribunal.
The tribunal on March 22 declared Adeleke as the winner of the election, but the judgment was later overturned by the Appeal Court on May 9.
The case has, however, moved to the Supreme Court for final judgment and the court is set to rule on the matter on July 5. -
Osun election dispute: Await S’Court verdict with prayers, Adeleke tells supporters
The People’s Democratic Party’s candidate for September 22, 2018 governorship election, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has called on his supporters to prayerfully and peacefully await verdict of the Supreme Court on the governorship tussle.
A statement by his media consultant, Olumide Lawal, said as a man at peace with himself, he would want his teeming supporters to remain calm and hold the progress of Osun-State dear to their hearts.
Expressing hope, he said that by the special grace of God and judicial process, economic prosperity beckons on Osun-State.
Adeleke also enjoined the people of Osun State to be rest sure that he will not disappoint them “when eventually, through the grace of god and instrumentally of the judiciary” emerge victorious after the Supreme Court judgement scheduled for July 5.
He advised his supporters to discountenance the utterances of the opposition “in their bid to whip up sentiments and lower their spirits.”
According to him, he had passed through the crucible and fire and came out untainted, saying “this has prepared me solidly for the task of serving humanity without bias, ill-wind or grudge towards anybody as a God-fearing man, brought up in total humility and milk of human kindness in his veins to serve the less-privileged and physically disadvantaged people in the society.”
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Osun guber: Improper service stalls hearing in Adeleke’s suit
The hearing of appeal filed by Sen. Ademola Adekele, PDP Candidate for Osun State in the September 2018 governorship election was on Thursday stalled in Court of Appeal, Abuja on account of improper service.
Adeleke has approached the appellate court to challenge the decision of Justice Othman Musa of the FCT High Court in Bwari, Abuja made April 2, which invalidated his status as PDP governorship candidate.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb, both of the Osun Chapter of All Progressive Congress (APC) instituted the suit, accusing Adeleke of not possessing the requisite educational qualification.
At the resumed hearing, Mr Bankole Komolafe, Counsel for Raheem and Habeeb, drew the attention of the court that four vital pages of the Notice of Appeal served on him were not included.
Komolafe also submitted that the development had prevented him to file his respondents’ brief.
Mr Nathaniel Oke (SAN), Counsel for Adeleke earlier told the court that he had met all condition for preparatory for the definite hearing of the appeal.
Oke informed that court that the four listed respondents were duly and promptly served with the Notice of Appeal on April 15.
He therefore, described the inability of the counsel to the first (Raheem) and second (Habeeb) respondents to file his client’s responses as a violation of the court’s practice direction which allowed them only five days to respond.
Komolafe subsequently countered Oke’s argument, saying that it was misleading for Oke to rest his submission on the court’s practice direction on a pre-election matter.
Justice Stephen Adah, leading two other justices of the court upheld Komolafe’s argument and discountenance Oke’s line of thought.
“If you have errors in your record, it is your responsibility to correct them.
“Why do you have to serve counsel with incomplete process and still go ahead to put the blame on them?
“This is not an election petition, so the practice direction where respondents are only given five days to respond to processes applied.
“In the circumstance, you must correct the record and give them time to respond. The matter is therefore adjourned until May 2 for hearing of the appeal’’, Adah held.
The other respondents are APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
NAN reports that Adeleke is praying the appellate court to set aside the judgment of the trial court as according to him, the court relies on inadmissible evidence to arrive at the decision.
The trial court’s findings showed that Adeleke was admitted into Ede Muslim High School, Ede, Osun State in 1976, but without a record showing that he graduated.
The court also found that the results Adeleke attached to INEC’s form CF001 contradicted the one presented to the court by the Principal of Ede Muslim High School where he claimed to have graduated.
NAN reports that Adeleke has since been returned as duly elected governor of the state by the Osun State Election Tribunal, but that decision is being challenged by Adegboyega Oyetola, APC candidate in that election.
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Adeleke Vs Oyetola: PDP rejects inclusion of Justice Oyewole in Osun appeal panel
The national leadership of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the inclusion of Justice Joseph Oyewole as member of the Osun State governorship election appeal tribunal.
The PDP alleged Justice Oyewole has strong connections with the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is an interested party in the case under appeal.
At a media briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, spokesman for the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, the main opposition party, said it has petitioned the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa.
The PDP had stated in the petition that there was clear likelihood of Justice Oyewole being bias against its candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke and his party, PDP.
The election petition tribunal had earlier voided the election of Mr. Gboyega Oyetola of the APC who won the 2018 Osun governorship poll and ordered the immediate swearing-in of Adeleke as winner of the election.
Other grounds on which the PDP rejected Justice Oyewole’s inclusion in the appeal panel, as stated by Ologbondiyan are:
“Hon. Justice Oyewole (JCA) is an indigene of Osun state and he had served as a High Court Judge of Lagos state and had thus served under the administration of Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, (the national leader of the APC) while he (Tinubu) was the governor of Lagos State.
“When the seat of the Chief Judge of Osun State became vacant, some years back, upon the retirement of Hon. Justice G.O Ojo, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu insisted on having his anointed candidate, Hon Justice J.O.K Oyewole, on the Judiciary of Osun State at all cost.
“It will be recalled that it took the courageous intervention of the then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Aloma Murktar to prevail that the most senior judge of Osun state judiciary should be so appointed.
“When a seat became vacant at the Court of Appeal, the name of Hon. Justice Oyewole was pushed forward by Senator Tinubu, using the slot of Osun State and thus, Justice Oyewole became Justice of the Court of Appeal.
“It is therefore a fact known to us and members of the public that Hon. Justice Oyewole has a strong connection with the APC and its leader, Tinubu.
‘’As such he should not sit as a panel member for a governorship election dispute between the PDP and the APC.
“Moreover, Hon. Justice J.O.K Oyewole is from Osun state. The instant appeal is over the decision of the Osun state Governorship Tribunal. Given his connections with the APC, it will be most unsafe to allow Hon. Justice J.O.K Oyewole to sit on the Appeal Panel.
‘’We are not assured that justice will be done with Hon. Justice J.O.K Oyewole as a member of the Panel.
“As a party, we do not have confidence in Hon. Justice J.O.K Oyewole.
‘’So the PDP vehemently objects to his inclusion, as he is likely to be biased against our party and our candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke”.
The party added: “The PDP called on the President of the Court of Appeal to immediately replace Justice Oyewole with another justice of the Court of Appeal, who has no affiliation with Osun state. There are over 90 eminent Justices of the Court of Appeal.
“Our party and candidate hold that justice must not only be done, but also manifestly seen to be done in this matter. Indeed, an insistence on Hon. Justice J.O.K Oyewole’s inclusion in the Appeal Panel may confirm our fears that his name could have been deliberately included so that he can carry out a special assignment against our candidate and the party in the appeal.”
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Osun poll: PDP candidate, Adeleke qualified to contest governorship poll, Appeal Court rules
The controversy over the eligibility of Senator Ademola Adeleke to contest the Osun governorship election has been put to rest as an Akure Federal Court of Appeal has by 11 AM today reaffirmed his qualification and eligibility to contest the office.
The Akure Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal against the judgement of Osogbo High court which had confirmed the eligibility of Senator Ademola Adeleke to contest for the governorship of Osun state.The Osogbo High Court had earlier ruled that Senator Adeleke is qualified to contest for the governorship having been educated up to secondary school level.
The petitioners however proceeded to appeal against the ruling ,insisting that the Senator is not qualified and therefore Dr Akin Ogunbiyi who is the second runner up at the governorship primary should be declared the winner of the primary.
The Akure Appeal court in its ruling dismissed the appeal on three grounds ,affirming the judgement of the lower court that confirmed the eligibility of Senator Adeleke.
The first ground was that the court has no jurisdiction to hear the case .The second was that the petitioner has no locus standi to file the case and third was that the matter was brought to court outside the stipulated 14 days after the conduct of the primary.
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Davido reacts after court nullified Adeleke’s nomination as PDP candidate
Nigerian pop star, David Adeleke a.k.a Davido has reacted after an Abuja High Court nullified the candidacy of his uncle, Senator Ademola Adeleke, as the Osun State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
The Justice Oathman Musa-led court nullified Adeleke’s candidacy on the ground that he was not qualified academically for the position.
The PDP candidate was dragged to court by two chieftains of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Wahab Raheem and Adam Habeeb.
Both APC chieftains accused Adeleke of not possessing a secondary school certificate which was a requirement for him to contest for the office of the governor.
However, Davido tried to deflate the nullification of his uncle’s candidacy in the election.
Davido, while sharing a report of the nullification on his Twitter handle, wrote: “Story for the gods.”
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We didn’t see Adeleke in exam hall, NECO supervisors tell court
A Federal High Court in Abuja heard yesterday that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in last year’s Osun State governorship election, Senator Ademola Adeleke, did not sit for the National Examination Council (NECO) examinations in 2017.
It was at the resumed proceedings of the trial of the Ede-born senator and four others for their alleged involvement in examination malpractices.
The prosecution called two witnesses – Emmanuel Odesola and Adigun Akintayo – who said they acted as supervisor and invigilator during the June/July 2017 NECO examination in Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School, Ojo-Aro, Osun State.
Odesola (a teacher, who was a supervisor during the examination) and Akintayo (a teacher and invigilator) said they only saw Sikiru Adeleke (the Senator’s brother), who is listed as the 2nd respondent, in the examination hall.
The witnesses also said they did not experience malpractices.
They said of the five defendants, they only saw the second defendant (Sikiru Adeleke), the principal and registrar of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School during the examination.
Senator Adeleke, Sikiru Adeleke (who is said to be the senator’s relative), Alhaji Aregbesola Mufutau (the school principal), Gbadamosi Thomas Ojo (registrar) and Dare Samuel Olutope (teacher) were arraigned in November last year.
The five were arraigned on a charge marked: FHC/ABJ/CR/156/2018, filed in the name of the Inspector General of Police (IGP).
Ademola and Sikiru were accused of fraudulently, through impersonation, registering as students of Ojo-Aro Community Grammar School, Ojo-Aro, Osun State to enable them sit for the National Examinations Council (NECO) examination of June/July 2017.
The other three defendants were accused of aiding the commission of the alleged offence.
Testifying yesterday as the third prosecution witness, Odesola said he teaches at Akode Middle High School, Akoda, Ede, but served as supervisor during the 2017 examination.
He admitted knowing the Adeleke and three other defendants, except Olutope, who he said he only met for the first time in court.
Odesola said although he was in the school for the first time, the school authorities failed to provide him with the school album to enable him match the students’ faces with their names.
He said it was the school’s registrar that identified the students before they were allowed into the examination hall.
Odesola said he saw some four elderly men in the exam hall on the day of the Economics examination, but that he could not confront them because they had the school identity cards.
The witness said although that was his first day in the school, he did not see the senator in the exam hall.
He added that, although he could not identify who among those in the examination hall were actual students of the school, the principal and registrar of the school confirmed that they were all students, who were issued the school’s identity card.
He said although 60 students were scheduled to write the examination, two were absent on the day the Economics examination was written.
Odesola added: “I observed that there were some elderly people in the examination hall. They were about four of them.”
Prosecution lawyer Simon Lough later tender, through Odesola, some documents, including one answer sheet, numbered 057, with the name: Ademola Adeleke written on it.
Under cross-examination by lawyers to the defendants, among whom were Alex Izinyon (SAN), and Nathaniel Oke (SAN), the witness said he did not know the hand writing of the defendants and could not tell who wrote on the examination sheet tendered in court.
The witness said it was not easy to ascertain if somebody was old by mere looking at his face.
Odesola said he could not see the four elderly people, who he saw in the examination hall, in court yesterday.
The witness, who said he screened the students with the assistance of officials of the school, before they were allowed into the examination hall, said: “The students are supposed to have identity cards, with their pictures, and signed by the school principal.”
Akintayo, in his evidence-in-chief, said that while he was distributing question papers, “I saw a candidate that was more matured. He was Sikiru Adeleke.
“I asked him for his identity card, and he showed me one that was issued by the school and signed by the principal.
“As a school teacher, I could not ask him to leave the hall or query him any further.”
On whether he saw all the defendants in the examination hall, the witness said: “I only saw the registrar. Outside that, I did not see the others.
“When the examination was in progress, a woman, who was the examination supervisor, Mrs. Kusamotu Fumilayo (PW2) was surprised to see Sikiru Adeleke in the hall.
“She asked for his identity card, which he brought out. She was not satisfied. She sat beside him for some minutes and later left.”
Akintayo said, apart from Sikiru Adeleke, he did not see any of the other defendants in the examination hall.
Under cross-examination, Akintayo said he made a statement to the police at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Osogb on October 8, 2018.
The witness said it was at the police station that the police showed him the first defendant’s scores in the examination.
Akitayo said he did not see the 1st defendant on that day of the examination. He added that it is strange for NECO to award marks to a student who did not write an examination.
He said external candidates do not write the June/July NECO examinations because it is meant for and always written by students of the school.
On further cross-examination, Akintayo said it is NECO that issues numbers to students who sits for its examination.
The witness said he did not check whether Sikiru Adeleke has examination number allocated to him by NECO.
Akintayo said there was no incident of malpractices during the examination, but insisted that Sikiru Adeleke “was the most matured students on the examination hall.”
On whether they were issued certain guidelines, the witness said: “The only instruction given to us was that anybody with school ID card should be allowed to write the exam.”
At the conclusion of Akintayo’s testimony, Lough told the court to vacate the hearing scheduled for Thursday (today) on the grounds that he would be before the Supreme Court.
Lawyers to the defendants did not object to the prosecution lawyer’s application, following which Justice Inyang Ekwo adjourned to June 10 and 11 for continuation of trial.
Justice Ekwo warned the prosecution to keep to the days given by the court.
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Osun gov’rshp poll: Why court judgement nullifying my candidacy will not stand – Adeleke
Two Senior Advocates of Nigeria, (SAN) have said that the FCT High Court judgment which nullified the nomination of Sen. Ademola Adeleke as the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the September 2018 Governorship Election in Osun, cannot stand the test of time.
Speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja, Mr Isreal Olondare (SAN) said that the judgment was not a sound one because the law stipulated that a person aspiring to any political office must be educated up to school certificate level.
“The ruling cannot stand the test of time because during the trial, it was the prosecution that subpoenaed the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to come and tender the result of Adeleke in court.
“They tendered the result and it was confirmed that he wrote the exams notwithstanding that maybe he failed the papers.
“The constitution of Nigeria says that any person aspiring to office must be educated up to school certificate level it didn’t say that the person should have grade one or so on.
“Since there is evidence that he was educated up to school certificate level, he is qualified to contest,” the senior lawyer contended.
Moreover, he questioned the legality of the FCT High Court having jurisdiction to try a matter that arose from Osun state.
On his part, Mr Nathaniel Oke (SAN), a counsel to Adeleke said that they were grossly dissatisfied with that judgment and would appeal it before the close of business on Wednesday.
“We are appealing against it and before today expires, we will file our notice of appeal against that judgement because we do not agree with any of the reasons given.
“We contended that our candidate having brought a certified true copy of the result of the examination he took in 1981 as ordered by the court with supportive affidavit, that in itself is sufficient to say that he is qualified.”
According to Oke, you don’t have to pass the exam of WAEC before you can be qualified, the moment you make an attempt, is suffices, which is the requirement of the law.
Justice Oathman Musa of an Abuja High Court, Bwari Area Council of Abuja on Tuesday, nullified the nomination Adeleke as candidate of the PDP in the Sept. 2018 Governorship Election in Osun State.
Justice Musa annulled Adeleke’s nomination on the grounds that Adeleke offended Section 177 of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The section stipulates that candidates for the position of governor must be educated up to secondary school level.
According to Justice Musa, while the court’s findings show that Adeleke entered secondary school in 1976, there is no record to show that he actually graduated as his name is no longer seen in the school’s register from 1980.