The apex gave the ruling this afternoon May 9, while delivering judgment in an appeal filed by the immediate past governor of the state, Adegboyega Oyetola of the APC challenging the ruling of the Appeal Court which upheld the election of Adeleke.
Delivering judgment, the five-member panel of the apex court led by Justice Emmanuel Agim, held that the court of appeal correctly reinstated Adeleke as governor.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner of the July 16, 2022 poll, saying he scored 403,371 votes to sack Oyetola who was the then incumbent and polled a total of 375,027.
Oyetola and his party had alleged irregularities in the polls and challenged Adeleke’s victory in the tribunal. On January 27, 2023, Justice Tertse Kume who gave the majority judgement upturned Adeleke’s victory and declared Oyetola the winner of the poll. Justice Kume held that Oyetola scored the majority lawful votes of 314,931 against Adeleke’s 290,266.
Not satisfied with the judgment, Adeleke and the PDP headed to the Court of Appeal, which on March 24 nullified the tribunal judgment and returned Adeleke as the winner of the state guber election. Aggrieved with the Appeal Court verdict, Oyetola and the APC went to the Supreme Court which today upheld the ruling by the Court of Appeal.