In what may be described as an interesting turn of events, a Federal High Court in Lagos has admitted electoral documents tendered by the Labour Party (LP) and its governorship candidate in the 2018 governorship election in Osun State, Alhaji Akinwole Aiyegbusi (Obi).
The documents, which allegedly revealed discrepancies in the result sheets of the election, were presented before the court as evidence in an ongoing case involving the Osun State Governor, Gboyega Oyetola, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the election, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
Justice Peter Obiora, who presided over the case, admitted the documents as exhibits in a ruling on Tuesday. The court noted that the documents were relevant and admissible, stating that the petitioners had established a prima facie case against the respondents.
The LP and Obi had filed a petition at the tribunal challenging Oyetola’s declaration as the winner of the governorship election.
During the proceedings, the petitioners’ counsel, Bola Ayorinde (SAN), had argued that discrepancies in the result sheets were substantial enough to invalidate the election.
The documents tendered before the court were certified true copies of the “Forms EC8A and EC8B” used in the conduct of the election in some local government areas of the state.
In a similar vein, Adeleke had also filed a petition at the tribunal challenging Oyetola’s victory. However, the tribunal had dismissed Adeleke’s case on technical grounds, prompting him to approach the Court of Appeal.
The LP and Obi had, however, urged the court to discountenance the findings of the tribunal and declare their petition as meritorious.
It remains to be seen how the court will rule on the petition, but the admission of the documents may have increased the chances of the LP and Obi in their bid to upturn the election result.
