Osun’s APC to appeal Tribunal ruling

Stephen Adewale

The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has reacted to the sacking of Gboyega Oyetola as the governor of the south west state.

The party said the declaration by the election tribunal of Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party as governor was a “temporary setback”.

The tribunal, which heard the petition in Abuja after it relocated from Osogbo, the Osun State capital over fears of insecurity, decided on Friday that Ademola was the actual winner of the election.

The three-man tribunal said the PDP candidate won the election on the first ballot, noting that the rerun election which saw the APC upturning the votes and was declared as the winner, was illegal.

At the close of ballot on September 19, 2018, the PDP led the polls with 353 votes, after receiving 254,698 votes while the APC candidate got 254,345votes.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the election inconclusive after reasoning that the number of cancelled votes was far more than the margin of lead by the PDP candidate.

A rerun was scheduled for September 27 for the affected polling units from which the APC recovered with huge votes and was declared the winner by the INEC.

It was the wisdom of the tribunal, however, that the said rerun was illegal and unnecessary, declaring Adeleke the governor.

Reacting to the decision, the publicity secretary of the APC in Osun State, Kunle Oyatomi, said the decision cannot stand “superior legal scrutiny.”

“We are going to appeal the judgment by the grace of God and we are sure the judgment cannot stand,” he said.

“This is a temporary setback for us, we know, but we know this judgment will be overturned either by the Appeal Court or at the Supreme Court.

“There is no reason why anyone should fret at this point, we appeal to our supporters and members to be calm.”