The Supreme Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the Peoples Democratic Party and its governorship candidate in the September 2018 election in Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, challenging the election of Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress.
The apex court in a split decision of five to two, the apex court’s panel of seven Justices held that the proceedings and the majority judgment of the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal which had declared the PDP as the winner of the poll were a nullity.
Justice Bode Rhodes-Vivour who read the lead majority judgment of the apex court held that the absence of Justice Peter Obiorah who later read the lead judgment of the tribunal during the February 6, 2019 hearing, had rendered the entire proceedings of the said tribunal and its judgment a nullity.
The Acting Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad and three other members consented to the lead majority judgment.
But Justice Kumai Akaahs and Justice Paul Galinje affirmed PDP as the winner of the poll.
The judgment was a split decision of five-to-two.
The judgments of the apex court on all the four appeals on the disputed poll followed the same pattern.
In an unprecedented manner, the judgments on the disputed September 2018 poll from the tribunal to the Supreme Court were split.
It was a split of two-to-one in favour of PDP at the three-man tribunal, four-to-one at the five-man panel of the Court of Appeal in Abuja, and now five-to-two at the apex court.
Five Justices of the apex court affirmed the majority judgment of the Court of Appeal on May 9, 2019 and dismissed the majority judgment of the tribunal delivered on March 22, 2019
Five Justices of the apex court affirmed the majority judgment of the Court of Appeal on May 9, 2019 and dismissed the majority judgment of the tribunal delivered on March 22, 2019
The two other Justices of the apex court affirmed the majority judgment of the tribunal and the minority judgment of the Court of Appeal.