The Governor of Osun State, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, has expressed his joy over the dismissal of the petition of the candidate of the Peoples democratic Party, Senator Iyiola Omisore, in the August 9, 2014 governorship election in the state.
The state’s Elections Petitions Tribunal on Friday dismissed the petition by Omisore on all grounds of the candidate’s appeal.
In the ruling, which lasted for over seven hours, the tribunal dismissed the prayers of Omisore alleging over voting, non-accreditation of voters and other irregularities.
The Tribunal also said it found the “experts” called by Omisore during the proceedings as not being experts in their fields.
The petition was dismissed in a unanimous judgment, which started at 9.10am and was concluded at 4.38pm.
The Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Elizabeth Ikpejime, read the judgement.
Ikpejime held on behalf of others that Aregbesola, who scored 394,684 votes, was was validly elected.
Omisore was credited with 292,747.
In his reaction, Aregbesola, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress, described the judgement as the triumph of the will and wishes of the people.
Aregbesola said in a sane society, his opponent in the August 9, 2014 governorship election would not even approach the election tribunal because there was no redress to be sought in the first place.
He said: “It is pertinent to state here that ab initio, those who went to the tribunal knew that the petition lacked any substance whatsoever. It is a share waste of the time of the judiciary. And they knew!
“One is appalled by the fact that a candidate who knew that the entire state rejected him and the political party he represents; performed abysmally in the build-up to the election, during the election and compounded his woes by failing to meet up with the required deadline set by the rule of the court, would be taunting us with any fake victory.”
Aregbesola, in the statement made available by his media aide, Semiu Okanlawon, congratulated the people of Osun State on the victory, saying it is a confirmation of their dogged desire for good governance as demonstrated by the four years of the first term of his administration.
He said: “We must salute the courage of our people that in the face of overwhelming intimidation, harassment of unimaginable proportion, they stood by their government and ensured re-election. This is a further affirmation of the fact that any government that makes the people the centre of its policies will always find the people solidly behind it.”
Aregbesola further re-assured the people that his government would not relent in its zeal to make Osun State the hub of the most profitable commercial centre not only in the South West but in Nigeria as a whole.
He said: “Our target is to make this small corner of the earth a centre of reference in all that is great and elegant. The history of our place tells us that civilization was not alien to us and that indeed, our people were epitome of innovation, technology, industry and enterprise.
“We must revamp this and make our people proud again among other nations of the world.”
Aregbesola jubilates as Tribunal dismisses Omisore’s petition
