Osun State Election Petition Tribunal yesterday granted the ex-parte application filed by Governor Gboyega Oyetola and the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to release materials used at the July 16 governorship election to them for inspection.
The tribunal panel chairman, Tertsea Aorga Kume and a member, Benedict Amangbo Ogbuli, presided over the sitting, which held at the judiciary complex in Osogbo.
Kume also granted the petitioners’ prayer for substituted service on the state governor-elect, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
Oyetola had filed a motion for an order for Adeleke to be served through other means since the court bailiff allegedly found it difficult to serve the governor-elect personally.
According to the tribunal, efforts made by its bailiff to serve Adeleke were not successful and that the court official left Adeleke’s country home in Ede without serving him and cited security reasons.
Counsel to Oyetola, Chief Yomi Aliyu (SAN), prayed the tribunal to order that the plaintiff serve Adeleke the court processes through its notice board. To this end, the panel ordered that the petition notice should be pasted on the tribunal’s notice board.
MEANWHILE, the Ademola Adeleke transition committee, yesterday, said that granting an order of substituted service was a normal process provided for within the legal jurisprudence.
The media sub-committee Chairman for the transition committee, Malam Olawale Rasheed, in a statement while reacting to the ex-parte order for a substituted service on Adeleke, denied reports that the governor-elect evaded court service.
Rasheed stated: “Senator Adeleke is very much in Osun State attending to transition responsibilities in preparation for his assumption of office in November.
“Filing and securing application for substituted service does not call for any jubilation as the processes are normal and allowed within the nation’s jurisprudence. It is part of the legal process for which litigants can avail themselves.”
“ It is neither an indictment nor a vindication of any actor within the adjudication environment.
“We must however admit that security around the governor-elect is expectedly tight since his declaration as the winner of the election.
“That is however not to say that Adeleke is not accessible for court service. The granting of application for substituted service is a pathway to speed up service process and we wholeheartedly welcome the decision of the tribunal.”
