The Osun State governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the September 22 and 27 elections, Ademola Adeleke has filed a petition at the Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Osogbo to challenge the victory of the governor-elect, Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
CAMPUS REPORTER gathered that Mr Adeleke and his party, the PDP, have asked the tribunal led by a judge, Theresa Igoche, to cancel the victory of Mr Oyetola and declare him (Adeleke) the winner of the election.
He claimed he polled the highest number of votes in the election.
Confirming this development, Osun PDP Secretary, Bola Ajao, told our correspondent in a telephone interview on Tuesday evening that Mr Adeleke has done what is expected of him as a law-abiding citizen.
“The party and its candidate have demanded that the election be nullified and that our candidate be declared,” he said.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of APC in Osun, Kunle Oyatomi, says he believes the PDP will lose at the tribunal.
“Let them continue. They are merely chasing shadows. It is too early to judge but I can affirm that they are chasing shadows,” he said.
Mr Oyetola won with 255,505 votes ahead of Mr Adeleke’s 255,023 votes.
Mr Adeleke had earlier scored the highest number of votes before Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared the election inconclusive and ordered a rerun in seven polling units. This it did because the number of cancelled votes in the seven polling units was higher than the margin of victory.
Mr Oyetola eventually won the disputed rerun amidst violence and intimidation of voters and election observers.
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