The Abuja Division of the Court of Appeal has fixed Thursday (today) for judgment on the dispute arising from the September 2018 governorship election in Osun State.
The court, on Wednesday, issued hearing notices for the judgment and had them served on all the parties to the four pending appeals relating to the disputed poll.
The state chapters of both the All Progressives Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party also on Wednesday expressed the hope that the judgment would be in their favour.
The state Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the APC, Mr Kunle Oyatomi, told Punch that the party did not entertain any fear ahead of the judgment.
Oyatomi said, “We entertain no fear. The judgment will be in our favour.
“The justices of the Court of Appeal will be honest enough to give judgment that will be appreciated by the entire world.
“Osun State has become a signpost for development and the whole world is watching.”
Thelagostimes recalls that a five-man panel of the Court of Appeal led by Justice Jummai Sankey, had on April 24 heard the three appeals and a cross-appeal filed in relation to the election and reserved its judgments.
At the hearing on April 24, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, the APC, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, urged the court to upturn the March 22, 2019 majority judgment of the state governorship election petitions tribunal, which nullified the governor’s victory.
But the PDP and its candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, who were declared the winner of the election by the tribunal, urged the Court of Appeal to affirm the tribunal’s judgment.
INEC had declared Oyetola and the APC the winner of election on the basis of the cumulative results of the September 22, 2018 main election and the September 27, 2018 supplementary poll.
Dissatisfied with the result declared by INEC, the PDP and Adeleke had filed their petitions before the three-man Osun State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, contending that they were the true winners of the election as they had already won after the September 22, 2018 poll and that there was no need for the supplementary election.