THE All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have filed petitions before the Osun Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal challenging the re-election of Gov. Ademola Adeleke.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the petitions were pasted on the notice board of the tribunal’s secretariat in Osogbo on Monday.
NAN also reports that the petitions marked the formal commencement of the legal process arising from the August 15 governorship election which saw Adeleke emerging as the winner.
Secretary to the tribunal, Pete Belemore, confirmed to NAN that petitions challenging the outcome of the election had been filed before the tribunal by the two opposition political parties.
Belemore more said that necessary notices would be displayed on the tribunal’s notice board before the end of the day.
He said that the development had paved way for the respondents in the petitions to be served formally and for subsequent proceedings to commence.
According to him, the tribunal is expected to hear petitions in accordance with the provisions of the Electoral Act and other relevant laws governing election petitions.
The ICIR reported that the incumbent governor and Accord Party candidate who was seeking re-election was declared the election winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), after defeating his closest challenger, Bola Oyebamiji, of APC.
The Returning Officer for the election, Joshua Ogunwale, a professor and Vice-Chancellor of the Federal University Oye-Ekiti, declared Adeleke the winner after the collation of results from the state’s 30 local government areas.
Adeleke secured 511,067 votes across the state’s 30 local government areas, ahead of Oyebamiji, who polled 444,815 votes.
African Democratic Congress (ADC) candidate Najeem Salam ganerned 17,180 votes in the poll.
Adeleke won in 19 of the 30 LGAs, while Oyebamiji won in 11.
The ICIR further reports that President Bola Tinubu congratulated Adeleke shortly after he was declared the election winner.
Similarly, Oyebamiji also accepted the governor’s victory two weeks after the poll.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ mfatunmole@icirnigeria.org