The court of appeal in Abuja has reserved judgment till a later date in an appeal filled by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Osun state governor, Mr. Gboyega Oyetola over the judgment of the election petition tribunal.

 At the conclusion of proceedings that lasted over eight hours, Justice Sankey told parties that the date of the judgment would be communicated to them by the court’s registry.

Mr Oyetola, APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) have asked the court of appeal to uphold Oyetola and APC’s victory in the governorship election held in the state on September 22 and 27, of last year.

Oyetola’s counsel, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) faulted the reasons given by the tribunal in reaching the judgment arguing that the decision was not supported by the evidence led by the petitioners.

He urged the court to void the judgment because the judge, Justice Peter Obiorah who wrote and delivered it, did not participate in all the proceedings of the tribunal.

Olanipekun also faulted the tribunal’s cancellation of results in 17 polling units in the state and noted that the petitioners did not tender any result of the election before the tribunal, saying that.

He argued that the tribunal went beyond its powers by annulling results in the 17 polling units in order to justify it’s the judgment it gave in favor of the petitioners.

Meanwhile, counsel to Adeleke and the PDP, Dr Onyechi Ikpeazu (SAN) faulted the appeals and the arguments proffered by Olanipekun and others, he argued that the tribunal was right in its decision to have declared Adeleke and his party as the winner of the election.

He urged the court to dismiss the three appeals and uphold the judgment of the tribunal even as he argued also that the non-participation of Justice Obiorah in all the proceedings cannot render the judgment of the tribunal a nullity.

Other members of the court’s five-man panel are, Justices Abubakar Datti Yahaya, Ita George Mbaba, Isaiah Olufemi Akeju and Bitrus Sanga.