The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled in favour of Governor Ademola Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in last 16th July gubernatorial election in Osun State.
The apex court ruled that, by the records of Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS), there was no over-voting in the election as claimed by the appellants, the defeated governor of the state, Mr Adegboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress (APC).
In a unanimous decision, the five-man panel of the Supreme Court, led by Justice John Okoro, held that, while Oyetola argued that the presiding officers who conducted the elections in 774 polling units did not use the BVAS machine, he could not substantiate the claim.
In the lead judgment prepared by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the court said that since the BVAS was the sole foundation and focal point of the appellant’s case, it was imperative that he produced the content of the BVAS in those affected polling units.
“It is glaring that the appellant did not produce any BVAS machine report as evidence to buttress his claim.
“It is not in dispute that the BVAS accredits voters. It is therefore the only direct and primary record of voters on election day”, the court ruled.
Justice Agim said that based on the regulations and guidelines of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), an election results can only be collated if the results tally with the figures in the BVAS and the ones transmitted to the INEC Results Viewing Portal (IRev).
“Without the BVAS, it is impossible to rebuff this presumption”, he further said.
Justice Agim said that it was important to note that the Electoral Act do not require presiding officers to transmit by BVAS the particulars of voters to the INEC backend server, adding that “it only provides that the BVAS should scan results collated and transmits to the IREV”.
“In the light of the foregoing, it was the record on the BVAS for each polling unit that could prove the number of voters.
“Voters register are to be used alongside with the BVAS.
“INEC guidelines states that the accreditation process shall comprise of authentication of voters using the BVAS and identification of the electoral through the voter register.
“It is glaring that the appellants could not prove over-voting”, the Supreme Court held.
In the early hours of Sunday, 17th July – a day after the election – INEC declared Adeleke, the PDP candidate winner of the poll.
The Returning Officer for the election and Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, announced that Adeleke got a total of 403,371 votes to beat the incumbent, Oyetola of the APC, who got 375,027 votes in a keenly contested race.
On 27th January, the Osun State Election Petition Tribunal nullified Adeleke’s election on the grounds of over-voting in 744 polling units in the state.
In a majority decision of two judges to one, the state’s tribunal, chaired by Justice Tertse Kume, ruled that Adeleke did not score majority of lawful votes.
It decided against Adeleke for overvoting in some polling units across the state.
Adeleke and the PDP complained to the Court of Appeal, which ruled in their favour on 24th March.
In a unanimous agreement by a three-man panel led by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu, the Court of Appeal quashed the tribunal’s judgement and upheld Adeleke as rightful governor of the state.
The Court of Appeal affirmed Ademola Adeleke as the actual winner of the governorship election, citing evidence from the BVAS machine and voter’s register.
Adeleke’s lawyer, Chief Onyechi Ikpeazu argued that Oyetola used incorrect polling unit results uploaded on the INEC’s back end server at the tribunal.
The Appeal Court panel upheld the issue of BVAS raised against Oyetola, stating that the state tribunal was wrong to have said that there was over voting, a claim that only relied on the evidence by the former governor and the APC, and as such, did not prove their case in any way.
But Oyetola’s counsel, Lateef Fagbemi SAN, maintained that the tribunal’s judgment followed scrutiny of evidence made available by INEC.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled: “The Court of Appeal correctly found that the appellant failed to prove their case, for this reason I resolve the issues 3,5,9 in favour of the respondents”.
On the issue of certificate forgery, the apex court held that it was settled by the Court of Appeal in two decisions, adding that the judgement had settled the educational status of Adeleke.
