With Election over, All Eyes on Ademola Adeleke to Perform

BRIEFINGNOTES

Having received the mandate, which many believe was denied him in 2018, Osun State Governor-elect, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has tough tasks ahead to justify the confidence of his people, Ejiofor Alike reports

After the failed attempt by the police and the agents of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to nail him with an allegation of  examination malpractices, the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adeleke last Saturday won a tough electoral battle to regain the mandate, which many believe was snatched from him in 2018.

According to the results announced by the Returning Officer and Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Professor Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, the PDP governorship candidate polled 403,371 votes to defeat incumbent Governor Gboyega Oyetola of the APC, who scored 375,027 votes.

The results also showed that Mr. Kehinde Atanda of the ADP polled 10,104 votes;  Akinade Ogunbiyi of Accord, 4,515 votes; Yussuff Lasun of LP, 2,729; Awojide Segun of AAC, 2,148 votes; Ademola Adeseye of YPP, 1,303 votes; Awoyemi Lukuman of APM, 1,222 votes; and Ayowole Adedeji of PRP, 1,007 votes. Adeleke’s wide acceptability by the people of the state was manifested in his 403,371 votes, which are more than the combined 401,083 votes polled by the other 14 candidates.  In all the previous elections he contested, Adeleke had always enjoyed the overwhelming support of the people of the state. When he contested for the Osun West senatorial by-election  in 2017 following the death of his elder brother, Senator Isiaka Adeleke, a former governor of the state, the APC leaders denied him the party’s senatorial ticket to complete his brother’s tenure.

But he crossed over to the PDP and defeated the candidate of the ruling APC in the state.

In 2018, he vied for the governorship position on the platform of the PDP with Oyetola of the APC but lost with less than 400 votes after a controversial rerun election, which many believe was contrived by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to rob him of victory.

When it was obvious that Adeleke was coasting home to victory in the main governorship election conducted on September 22, 2018, INEC had in a controversial circumstance, cancelled the results from seven polling units in four local government areas in the state, and ordered a rerun poll.

At the end of the rerun poll, the electoral umpire declared Oyetola winner, which was disputed by Adeleke who filed a petition before the tribunal challenging INEC’s declaration.

The tribunal had in a split decision of two-to-one, said it was satisfied that there was merit in the petition lodged by Adeleke and the PDP against INEC’s use of the outcome of a supplementary governorship election held on September 27, 2018, to declare Oyetola winner.

The tribunal, in a lead ruling that was delivered by Justice Peter Obiora noted that all the parties agreed to 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.

It described the cancellation as unlawful and ultra-vires of his powers.

According to the tribunal, the onus was on Presiding Officers in polling units where the alleged electoral infractions took place, to cancel the result and report same to Ward Collation Officers.

The tribunal invalidated the outcome of the re-run election on the premise that it was not conducted in substantial compliance with the Electoral Act, 2010, as amended.

It deducted votes that were credited to both PDP and APC in those units and declared Adeleke winner.

The tribunal also took a swipe at INEC after it confirmed that there were alterations in Certified True Copies of result sheets (Form EC8A), which were issued to the petitioners and tendered in evidence.

It observed that the figures in the said CTCs were different from what were contained in the signed pink/duplicate copies that were handed to party agents at the end of the governorship election.

However, while the third member of the panel, Justice Ayinla Gbolagunte, concurred with the lead judgment, the Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Ibrahim Sirajo, disagreed with the verdict, insisting that the rerun was valid.

When Oyetola appealed the tribunal’s judgment, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja set aside the judgment of the tribunal.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Hannatu Sankey set aside the entire proceedings of the tribunal because of its ‘faulty composition’.

While the lead judgment by four judges upheld Oyetola’s  appeal, Justice George Mbanmba gave a dissenting judgment in favour of Adeleke.

But the majority judgment was on technical grounds – the judges argued that the lead judgment of the tribunal was delivered by Justice Peter Obiora who did not participate fully in the proceedings of the tribunal.

It was on the same technical grounds that the disgraced former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad and other justices at the Supreme Court upheld Oyetola’s victory.

In the lead judgment delivered by Justice Bode Rhode-Vivour, the Supreme Court held that the appellate court was right to nullify the judgment of the tribunal because Justice Obiora was absent at the tribunal on February 6, when two witnesses, Ayoola Soji and Oladejo Kazeem, testified for the respondents.

Muhammad and three other Justices: Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Amiru Sanusi and Uwani Aba-Aji, concurred with the lead verdict

But two other members of the panel,  Justices Kumai Akaahs and Paul Galinje, maintained that Adeleke won the election and ought to have been declared winner.

In his dissenting judgment, Justice Akaahs accused INEC of partisanship, saying it failed to act as an unbiased umpire.

Despite all efforts to suppress the people’s will, Adeleke  contested again in 2022 and emerged victorious. He won in 17 of the 30 council areas while the governor won in 13 councils. Having demonstrated overwhelming confidence in Adeleke in a consistent manner, the people of the state cannot afford to be disappointed by the governor-elect.

A statement issued last Monday by his spokesman, Mallam Olawale Rasheed, maintained that the governor-elect was committed to his five-point agenda, including payment of arrears of workers’ salaries, pensions and gratuities.

Olawale reiterated that Adeleke would never renege on the promises he made during his campaign.

The governor-elect has since unveiled his agenda where he pledged to create programmes of action meant to boost productivity as a way of increasing the state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) and reviving the agricultural glory of the state, especially in cocoa production.

He also pledged to boost youth empowerment through the introduction of Small and Medium Enterprises schemes, and trainings on agricultural opportunities.

On issue of insecurity, Adeleke said he would also introduce community policing across communities in the state.

To revamp the educational sector, he promised to address the infrastructure, learning environment of the children and also encourage teachers.

On the issue of healthcare, Adeleke promised to revamp both primary and secondary health care infrastructural facilities.

Indeed, all eyes are on Adeleke to use the mandate to sustain the good name of the Adeleke family.