My electoral victory remains intact ― Seyi Makinde

Oyo State Governor, Mr Seyi Makinde, has maintained that his March 9, 2019 governorship electoral victory remains intact.

Speaking against the backdrop of Monday’s Appeal Court ruling, Makinde held that the court did not order a fresh election, neither did it order a retrial of the petition.

As contained in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Taiwo Adisa, Makinde said the Appeal Court refused to grant any of the three key reliefs sought by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Adebayo Adelabu, hence his electoral victory remained valid.

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Decrying various interpretations of the ruling, Makinde said the Monday’s Appeal court judgment only reaffirmed the ruling of the Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Ibadan.

“There is no ambiguity as to the state of things in our Pacesetter State as far as the election of March 9, 2019, is concerned. Our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the election.

“On Monday, the Court of Appeal, also sitting in Ibadan, delivered its judgement on the appeal by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adebayo Adelabu.

“The Court refused to nullify the election; it refused to order a fresh election and it also refused to order the retrial of the petition.

“With the above being the reality of the outcome of the Appeal Court ruling, the election of Engineer Seyi Makinde as the Governor of Oyo State has just been reaffirmed.

“There is nothing in the Appeal Court’s ruling that affects the returns made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and there is nothing that tampers with the mandate freely given to Engineer Seyi Makinde by the people of Oyo State.

“Governor Makinde hereby urges the good people of Oyo State to remain calm and refuse to be provoked by agents of disruption who are seeking to upturn the truth, which remains constant against all odds.

“We also wish to enjoin the people of Oyo State to ignore the doctored reports in some media outlets, which are merely quoting the judgement of the Court of Appeal out of context,” Makinde said.

The statement restated Makinde’s commitment to positive governance and unprecedented development of Oyo state.