Appeal Court ruling, test case for Nigerian democracy ― Oyo PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Oyo State, has described the judgment of the Election Petition Appeal Panel on Monday, in Ibadan, “as a test case for our judiciary and nascent democracy.”

The party further stated that “the judgment in one breadth claims retrial at the lower tribunal is impossible while it did not tamper with the results of the gubernatorial election that ushered in Engineer Seyi Makinde as the Governor of Oyo State.”

This was made known by the party in a statement issued by the Publicity Secretary of the party in Oyo State, Engineer Akeem Olatunji, on Monday.

Olatunji stated that Governor Seyi Makinde remains the governor of Oyo State because he got his mandate through the ballot boxes in an election with a wide margin.

He then assured the people of the state that Governor Makinde is unperturbed by the rumours in town but he is focused on how to fulfil his promises to the people of the state.

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According to the statement, “going by the judgment of the Appeal Court, Governor Seyi Makinde remains the Governor of Oyo State as PDP got her mandate through the March 9th election of which the Judges could not fault its fairness and the party is happy that the tribunal upheld the election in her ruling.

“Governor Seyi Makinde as the candidate of PDP polled 515,621 votes as against 357,982 votes scored by the APC candidate, Bayo Adelabu, with a wide margin of over 150,000 votes to defeat the APC candidate. Such a landslide freely given by the Oyo State electorate and the entire masses is beyond manipulation or abracadabra.

“Governor Seyi Makinde did not get his mandate through the lower Election Petition Tribunal but in a free and fair election conducted by INEC, hence the mandate is intact and it should be noted that Agodi government house is not vacant for whatever reason until 2023 when INEC will be lifting bans on political aspiration.

“We are not in crisis, the governor is unruffled and our great party, PDP, view the whole drama as a charade of absurdity.

“If APC felt aggrieved, they are free to continue litigation while we at PDP continues with good governance,” the party stated.