Osun State governor-elect, Sen. Ademola Adeleke, says he would defend the mandate given to him by majority of the people of the state in the July 16, 2022, governorship poll before the Election Petitions Tribunal.
Recall that incumbent Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the poll, had approached the tribunal to challenge Adeleke’s victory.
But Sen. Adeleke declared that his victory at the poll was in total compliance with the law and will of the people of the state.
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Adekele’s spokesman, Olawale Rasheed, in a statement titled, ‘I’ll Defend and Retain My Victory – Osun Governor-Elect,’obtained in Osogbo, on Saturday, quoted his principal as saying that the July 16 election was transparent, assuring that people’s mandate freely given to him would be defended and validated.
He added that the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) legal team was taking appropriate action on the petition filed against his victory and called on his supporters to remain calm.
“I urge the good people of Osun State who voted massively to reject bad governance to remain calm. We are doing the needful to defend their mandate.
“We will do all within our powers to ensure judicial validation of our victory as this is an election globally certified as a great advancement in electoral transparency and integrity.
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“We also want to reaffirm our faith in the judiciary as a bastion of hope and justice. We have unshakeable trust in God that this election petition shall end in another landmark victory for us and the resilient people of Osun State,” Adeleke concluded.
Meanwhile, Osun State APC had said it expected Sen. Adeleke to assemble best crop of lawyers that would defend weighty allegations against his victory at the recently held governorship election before the tribunal.
A statement by the Media Adviser to Osun APC chairman, Kola Olabisi, who said rather than doing that, Sen. Adeleke had instead set up transition committee.
Olabisi said, “By and large, my take on the hasty inauguration of the transition committee by Mr Governor-elect appears that he is putting the cat before the horse.
“Is it the inauguration of a transition committee that should be his priority attention when he is expected to be assembling the best crop of lawyers who would defend some of the weighty allegations against his pyrrhic victory in all the constitutionally allowed courts to adjudicate over his victory?”