The sacked Governor of Osun State, Ademola Adeleke, and the man he displaced in the July 16, 2022 election, Adegboyega Oyetola, have personally spoken on the ruling of the Osun State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
The Eagle Online recalls that the Tribunal, in a split decision of 2-1, on Friday nullified the election of Adeleke as governor.
While the spokesman of Adeleke, Olawale Rasheed, had after the judgment issued a statement on behalf of the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, the All Progressives Congress had reacted on behalf of Oyetola, who flew the party’s flag for the 2022 election.
Speaking in a statement he personally signed on Friday night, Adeleke said: “My good people of Osun State, we have all heard the split judgement of the governorship election tribunal.
“Two members of the tribunal delivered two opposing judgements, the chairman and the member one. The member two did not deliver any judgment, she abstained.
“The chairman’s judgment affirmed the claim of over-voting, while the member one’s judgement agreed with our position as captured by the BVAS machines, which is the primary source of accreditation data of true accreditation on the day of the election.
“The reality of my election as the Governor of Osun State is captured in the member one’s judgement. The claim of over-voting in the chairman’s judgement was unfounded. This was clearly a miscarriage of justice. Based on the above, there was no majority judgement.
“My good people of Osun State, I am still your Governor. I have the right of appeal the chairman’s judgement and I have instructed my lawyers accordingly.
“You gave me your mandate, our election remains valid and by the grace of God we will triumph at last.
“I call on you all to remain calm and go about your normal activities, peacefully. Please, remain law-abiding. We have strong faith in God and in our judiciary.”
In his own reaction in his hometown, Iragbiji, headquarters of Boripe Local Government Area of Osun State, Oyetola said: “It is a collective victory for our state and our nation’s democracy.
“I am happy that the judgement has resolved the controversy of July 16th, 2022 governorship election.
“INEC is the greatest beneficiary of the judgement.
“It will afford them the opportunity to look at all the anomalies and make necessary adjustments to prevent such mistakes again now that general elections are coming.
“I thank the people of the state and supporters for standing by us for the courage and loyalty.
“I want to assure them that we are ready to continue to serve them.
”Like I have always emphasised, our decision to approach the Tribunal was not to impugn on the integrity of INEC, but to help deepen our electoral system and our democracy.
“I salute millions of our party faithful and Osun citizens who stood firm to weather the storm for their courage and loyalty.
“With this victory, we have become more energised to redouble our efforts towards ensuring victory for our presidential candidate and all our National Assembly candidates, including all the State House of Assembly candidates in the February and March elections respectively.”