After a long court battle over the declaration of Gboyega Oyetola as the winner of Osun gubernatorial election by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the appeal of his counterpart, Ademola Adeleke and People Democratic Party (PDP) was dismissed and the victory of Gov. Oyetola was finally upheld by the Supreme Court on Friday.
Recall that Prof. Joseph Afuwape, Returning Officer for the Sept. 22 Osun governorship election, declared the poll inconclusive on September 23. Afuwape, who is the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), had announced that while Adeleke scored 254,698 votes, Oyetola polled 254, 345 votes and later declared a rerun because the number of cancelled votes (3,498 votes) in the election was greater than the difference between the leading candidates (353votes).
Oyetola emerged winner in the Re-run Osun state governorship election held on September 22, 2018 with 255,505 votes to Ademola Adeleke of the People Democratic Party’s (PDP) 255,023.
He was sworn in by the Chief Judge of Osun at the Osogbo township stadium on Tuesday, November, 27 as the 5th civilian governor of the state.
1) Oyetola was born in Iragbiji, Boripe Local Government Area of Osun on 29 September, 1954 to the family of Hammed Oyetola (the current Chief Imam of Egbeda, Iragbiji).
2) First born of 30 children, he attended Ifeoluwa Grammar School in Osogbo for his secondary school education which he completed in 1972. He proceeded to the University of Lagos where he bagged a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree in Insurance in 1978. Oyetola capped his education with a Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in 1990 at the same university.
3) He had his mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) between 1978 and 1979 at Potiskum, in present day Yobe State, where he lectured at the Staff Training Centre.
4) His professional career began in 1980, when he joined Leadway Assurance Company Limited as Area Manager and worked there till 1987. He took another step by taking his expertise to Crusader Insurance Company Limited as Underwriting Manager between 1987 and 1990. He moved again in 1990 to Alliance and General Insurance as Technical Controller and served in that capacity until 1991.
5) He established his firm, Silvertrust Insurance Brokers Limited, in 1991. He was the Managing Director until his appointment as Chief of Staff in 2010.
6) His other stints in business include, Executive Vice-Chairman, Paragon Group of Companies which has interest in Oil and Gas, Mining and Real Estate from 2005 until 2011. He was also Chairman of Ebony Properties Limited.
7) He had been a Director of Pyramid Securities Limited until 2011, among other business interests, before his appointment as Chief of Staff by Governor Aregbesola.
8) Oyetola is a pronounced technocrat as well as a progressive politician. He was a founding member of Alliance for Democracy (AD) in Osun State and has been a chieftain of the party through its metamorphosis to Action Congress (AC), Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and now All Progressives Congress (APC).
9) He is happily married to Kafayat Olaitan Oyetola and the marriage is blessed with wonderful children and grandchildren.
10) On March 22, 2019 Osun State Tribunal nullified his election and declared Senator Ademola Adeleke winner of the poll. But on May 9, 2019, the Court of Appeal upheld Oyetola’s victory at the poll. Finally on June 5, 2019, the Supreme Court affirmed Oyetola winner of the Osun governorship election.