Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State has told the Court of Appeal that the decision of the Justice Tertsea Kume-led Election Petition Tribunal to rescind his victory at the poll was not the majority decision of the panel.
Adeleke added that the judgement was void since Rabi Bashir, the third panellist, remained silent regarding it.
His lead attorney, Onyeachi Ikpeazu, signed the notice of appeal on behalf of 26 other attorneys, which was submitted to the Court of Appeal, Akure Division, on January 30, 2023, in opposition to the panel’s decision of January 27 that invalidated his victory, which was obtained in Osogbo on Thursday.
The PDP candidate requested the Appeal Court to overturn the panel’s decision for 31 reasons, all of which were legal errors on the part of the Tribunal.
Some of the grounds listed were that “the second member of the lower Tribunal never rendered a decision or opinion in the petition orally or in writing.
“The second member of the lower Tribunal could not have validly signed the decision of the chairman of the lower Tribunal without an opinion.
“What was presented as the lead decision of the Tribunal is a nullity in fact and law, not the lead decision of the lower Tribunal.”
Adeleke continued, “The Tribunal determined the subject without reviewing the entirety of my case,” and he claimed that the panel had shown prejudice by making reference to my dancing to the Buga song in the decision that overturned his victory.
In addition, he argued that the reports of entries on the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System devices, which were used for accreditation during the election, were superior and distinctive, and that the panel shouldn’t have given the reliefs requested by the petitioners who appeared before it.
