Uneasy calm as tribunal reserves judgement in Oyetola, Adeleke governorship battle

A huge suspense currently hangs in the political space in Osun State as the judiciary will soon make a pronouncement on the lingering battle for governorship in the state.
The anxiety and uneasy calm indeed permeates other strategic areas of the country since it involves the two main political parties, the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party.
It is also believed to be a battle of status quo, survival and ego in some quarters.
The matter got heightened on Wednesday when the Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal reserved its judgment on the appeal Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State filed to set aside the tribunal verdict that sacked him from office.
Oyetola who was candidate of the ruling APC, is praying the appellate court to nullify the declaration by the Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, that Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, was the valid winner of the gubernatorial election that held in the state in September 2018. A five-man panel of Justices of the appellate court led by Justice Jummai Sankey, adjourned to determine whether the tribunal was right or wrong, after all the parties argued and adopted their respective briefs of arguments.
‘The Vanguard’ reports that aside Oyetola’s appeal marked CA/A/EPT/246/2019, the APC, through its lead counsel, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN, equally filed a separate appeal listed as CA/A/EPT/256/19, wherein it prayed the court to hold that the tribunal went beyond issues that were brought before it by the parties. Similarly, INEC, in its appeal marked CA/A/EPT/259/19, sought the nullification of the tribunal’s judgment, while Adekele and the PDP, in a cross appeal with No. CA/A/EPT/295/19, challenged the minority verdict of the tribunal that upheld Oyetola’s victory. Other members of the appellate court panel that heard all the appeals on Wednesday were Justices Abubakar Yahaya, Ita Mbaba, Isaiah Akeju and Bitrus Sanga. Meantime, in his 39-ground of appeal, Oyetola, urged the appellate court to reverse the majority decision of the tribunal that voided his return as winner of the Osun governorship contest, describing it as “perverse”.
He challenged the powers of the tribunal to invalidate the outcome of the September 27, 2018, re-run election that led to his victory. Arguing through his lawyer, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, Oyetola, insisted that it was wrong for a member of the tribunal panel, Justice Peter Obiora, who did not attend the entire proceedings of the tribunal, to deliver the lead judgment that removed him from office. For instance, he told the appellate court that though Justice Obiora was not present when the case was heard on February 6, and did not sign the record of proceeding for that day, he however included what transpired on that day in the lead verdict he delivered. “My lords he reviewed what happened on February 6, even when he was not there. Our position is that adjudication is not akin to video watching. It cannot be done by proxy”, Olanipekun argued. Both APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, told the tribunal that they were in support of the appeal, even as they urged the appellate court to vacate the judgment that was delivered in Adeleke’s favour. However, Adeleke’s lawyer, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, insisted that the appellants failed to adduce any evidence to prove their allegation that Justice Obiora did not attend all the proceedings. Besides, Ikpeazu noted that going by processes before the court, while Justice Obiora’s name was listed on the record of proceeding for February 6, his signature was however missing on the signature page.
“Looking at totality of the proceedings, there is obviously a conflict which cannot be resolved without affidavit evidence. It cannot be resolved against a judge who has not been given the opportunity to explain. “It is not a matter that an inference can be drawn from the Bar that the Judge was not there. They have failed to adduce any cogent evidence that Justice Obiora was not there”. More so, Adeleke’s lawyer argued that the Appellants failed to show how the alleged absence of Justice Obiora affected the substance of the judgment. “In a case where over 100 witnesses testified, they have not proved how the evidence of two witnesses that testified on the day they contended that Justice Obiora was not around, rendered the entire judgment of the tribunal a nullity.
“The party on appeal must show an element of miscarriage of justice”, Ikpeazu argued. It will be recalled that the tribunal had in a two-to-one split judgment it delivered on March 22, upheld a petition that Adeleke and the PDP lodged against the declaration and return of Oyetola as winner, based on the outcome of the supplementary governorship election. INEC had at the end of an initial election it conducted on September 22, cancelled results from seven polling units in four Local Government Areas in the state, and ordered a re-run poll. However, in the lead verdict that was delivered by Justice Obiora, the tribunal, noted that none of the parties disputed the fact that it was the State Returning Officer that cancelled the initial election
The tribunal held that the State Returning Officer acted beyond the power that was allocated to him under the Electoral Act when he voided results and ordered supplementary election in the affected areas. “We hold that the cancellation was unlawful and ultra-vires of his powers.The cancellation cannot stand, being a product of illegality”, the tribunal held. Moreover, the tribunal said the onus was on Presiding Officers in polling units where alleged electoral infractions took place, to cancel the result and report same to Ward Collation Officers. It held that upon receipt of the complaints, the Collation Officer was mandated by the law to fill Form EC40G and submit to the Local Government Collation Officer who will in turn transfer the information in the Form EC40GI and hand same over to the State Collation Returning Officer.”