TheCable

The Osun governorship election tribunal appears to have taken a swipe at the dancing skills of Ademola Adeleke.

Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was declared the winner of the governorship poll held in July 2022.

In August 2022, Gboyega Oyetola, former Osun governor, and the All Progressives Congress (APC) petitioned the tribunal to challenge the victory of Adeleke.

Among several issues, Oyetola contended that there was overvoting in 749 polling units across 10 LGAs of the state.

Delivering judgment on Friday, two out of the three-member panel of the tribunal held that the petitioner was able to prove that there was indeed over-voting in some of the polling units.

Consequently, the majority judgment of the tribunal ordered INEC to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and issue a fresh one to Oyetola as the duly-elected governor of Osun.

“For the sake of emphasis, the total lawful votes for each of the candidates after the said deduction of the invalid votes is 314,931 for the first petitioner, and 290,666 for the second respondent,” Tetsea Kume, who read the majority decision, said.

“Consequently, the second respondent did not score a majority of lawful votes cast at the election. The declaration and return is hereby declared null and void.

“The second respondent cannot ‘go lo lo lo lo’ and ‘buga won’ as the duly elected governor of Osun state in the election conducted on the 16th day of July, 2022. See Kizz Daniel song, ‘Buga’.

“Rather, we hereby hold that the first petitioner scored a majority of lawful votes in the said election and is hereby returned as such.

“The first respondent is hereby directed to withdraw the certificate of return issued to the second respondent, and issue it to the first petitioner as the duly elected governor of Osun state.”

Meanwhile, the reference to “go lo lo lo” and “buga won” by the tribunal appears to be a reference to Adeleke’s dance to a song by Nigerian artiste, Kizz Daniel, in November 2022.

While speaking at the government secretariat on his first day in office as governor, Adeleke had danced to the song while the crowd he was addressing cheered.

Meanwhile, Adeleke has rejected the judgment, describing it as a miscarriage of justice.

He also added that the judgment would be contested at the court of appeal.