Osun election petition tribunal adjourns for judgement

The governorship election petition tribunal in Osun State has adjourned for judgement after counsel to the parties adopted their final adresses.

The chairman of the tribunal, Tertsea Kume, on Friday said the adjournment date will be communicated to the parties.

The sitting which commenced at 10:34 a.m. and ended at 7:24 p.m. was conducted under tight security.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and Gboyega Oyetola who is the party’s governorship candidate are challenging the victory of Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

The tribunal consisting of three members started hearing the election petition’s case in August 2022.

The main arguments of the petitioners are that Mr Adeleke allegedly forged the academic credentials which he submitted tfor the election and that there were over-voting in 749 polling units during the election.

For over five months, counsel to both parties had argued on the issues surrounding the petitioners’ case

At Friday’s sitting, both parties adopted their final written addresses.

BVAS machine

The counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Paul Ananaba, told the tribunal that the petitioners were not accurate with reports of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) machines.

Mr Ananaba said that the BVAS reports tendered by the petitioners were incomplete because the INEC server had not completed the synchronization process when it was issued to them.

He, therefore, urged the tribunal to dismiss the petitioner’s claims of over-voting using BVAS machines as a basis.

But counsel to the APC, Lateef Fagbemi, said the issue of synchronization is unknown to the electoral law.

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Mr Fagbemi said analysis of the election results and reports of the BVAS machines showed that there were over-votings in some polling units.

He also prayed to the tribunal to reject the respondents’ claim.

Forgery

Onyechi Ikpeazu, counsel to Ademola Adeleke, argued that the forgery claims of the petitioners have not been proven with documentary evidence.

He told the tribunal that the petitioners in their cross-examination ought to have invited someone who attended or works at the institution that Mr Adeleke claimed to have graduated from in the United States for them to ascertain that he truly graduated.

But, Akin Olujimi, counsel to Mr Oyetola, said the testimonial tendered by Mr Adeleke does not show that he attended Muslim Grammar School in Ede.

Mr Olujimi noted that the testimonial was issued in 1988, three years before Osun State came into existence.