Osun Tribunal: Oyetola’s Lawyer Brushes Aside Jury’s ‘Buga’ Judgement

The lawyer for the immediate past Osun State governor, Oloruntomiloba Olagunju has made a case for the phrase ‘buga’ used by the head of the just-ended Osun Election Tribunal, Justice Tetsea Kume.

According to him, the phrase used while Justice Kume was reading the decision for the majority during the judgement of the tribunal last week was not part of the judgement.

Olagunju, while featuring on Channels TV’s Politics Today on Tuesday as gathered by this online medium, said the ‘Buga Won’ comment made by the election petition tribunal was done in passing.

Recall that two out of the three-member tribunal panel last Friday ruled in favour of the immediate Osun State governor, Gboyega Oyetola.

They held that Oyetola was able to prove to the tribunal that there was indeed over-voting in some of the polling units during the July 16 governorship election in the state.

In the tribunal’s ruling on January 27, the result declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which gave victory in the election to Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), was annulled.

The commission was also directed to withdraw the certificate of return issued to Adeleke and his deputy, Kola Adewusi, a move the governor has kicked against.

Kume, while reading the majority decision last Friday, said “The second respondent cannot ‘go lo lo lo lo’ and ‘buga won’ as the duly elected governor of Osun state in the election conducted on the 16th day of July 2022.”

The comment has since raised several controversies with the argument that the judgement was biased.

However, we understand that raising a defence for Kume, Oyetola’s lawyer submitted that “The statement credited to the judge regarding the buga phrase is what we call the obiter dictum in law. It means statements that are just made in passing.

“They are not part of the judgement. Without holding forth for the judge, if you look through the entire judgement, you will place where the judge cited Shakespeare. In driving home their point, judges sometimes make statements in passing.

“They are not part of the judgement, they are not appealable. You cannot for example appeal the fact that the judge said buga.”

Meanwhile, Adeleke has described the judgement as “a miscarriage of justice” and “an unfair interpretation against the will of majority of voters.”

He said, “I call on our people to remain calm. We will appeal the judgement and we are sure justice will be done.

“Let our people be reassured that we will do everything possible to retain this widely acclaimed mandate.”