Nigeria’s opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP) Osun State governorship candidate Ademola Adeleke Friday conceded defeat and congratulated governor Gboyega Oyetola on his victory at the Supreme Court.

“As a Democrat and law abiding citizen, I accept the ruling no matter my misgivings,” Adeleke’s spokesman, Olawale Rasheed, said in a statement.

“I wish Governor Oyetola well in the governance of Osun state,” he added.

The Supreme Court on Friday ruled in Oyetola’s favour to affirm his victory in the September 2018 poll.

The apex court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeal which annulled the March 22 judgement of the Osun State election petition tribunal.

The PDP candidate in the elections that were held September 22 and 27, filed a petition at the election tribunal to challenge the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declaration of Oyetola as the winner.

INEC said Oyetola polled total of 255,505 votes while the PDP candidate scored a total of 255,023 votes. Adeleke led the APC candidate with 353 votes after polling 254,698 to 254,345 at the end of the first round of the election on September 22.

The tribunal ruled that INEC was wrong to have ordered a rerun election. It nullified the rerun.

The court also ruled that INEC did not comply with its guidelines on results from 17 polling units.

The tribunal then deducted the results of both parties from the declared total of votes in the affected 17 polling units and declared PDP winner of the election with 254,698 votes to APC’s with 253,452 votes.

But the appeal court in May ruled that “the tribunal was in patent error when it set aside the rerun,” hence it upheld the declaration of Oyetola as the winner of the poll. (The Guardian)

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