Ademola Adeleke, the governor of Osun State, has disagreed with the Election Petition Tribunal’s decision to remove him from office.

You will recall that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Adeleke was proclaimed the winner of the Osun governorship election, which was held on July 16.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and former Osun governor Gboyega Oyetola filed a lawsuit with the tribunal in August 2022 to contest Adeleke’s victory.

Oyetola said that there was over voting at 749 polling places throughout 10 LGAs of the state, among other things.

In its ruling on Friday, January 27, the tribunal dismissed Adeleke as governor of Osun and determined that the petitioner had successfully established that there had been overvoting in certain of the polling places.

The election was won by Oyetola, who received 314, 921 votes, while Adeleke received 290, 266. The panel, which was chaired by Justice Tetsea Kume, deducted the observed over-voting from the votes received by the candidates and decided that Oyetola had won.

As the legitimately elected governor of Osun, the judgment commanded INEC to revoke the certificate of return granted to Adeleke and provide a new one to Oyetola.

Governor Adeleke responded to the decision on Twitter, calling it “a miscarriage of justice” and pledging to appeal the decision.

He wrote:

“I want to use this opportunity to call on our people to remain calm. We will appeal the judgement and we are sure justice will be done.

“Let everyone be reassured that we will do everything possible to retain this widely acclaimed mandate. God bless Osun!”