Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan
Governor-elect of Oyo State, Mr. Seyi Makinde, yesterday lauded the declaration of Senator Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the Osun governorship election by the Election Petition Tribunal, saying the Nigerian judiciary may end up being the beacon of democracy in the country in the foreseeable future.
Makinde in a release signed on his behalf by Mr. Dotun Oyelade, said the pronouncement of the tribunal over the Osun State gubernatorial election would reverberate through history because the judgment was not only a validation of an obvious plebiscite, but a resistance to jerk-knee democracy which President Muhammadu Buhari is desperately spreading across the land.
He said Nigerians should brace up for more shocking judicial judgements that would redirect our truamatised nation along the path of free and fair elections which appear to be alien to contemporary Nigerian leaders.
Also, the Oyo State chapter of the PDP, yesterday, hailed the victory of Adeleke, saying its governor-elect, had always prayed that the election petition tribunal returned the stolen mandate of the party, and returned Adeleke as the elected governor.
The party in a release made available to journalists by the state Secretary, Alhaji Wasiu Adeleke, said, “this is an icing on the cake of our recent victory in Oyo. Remember, Osun was carved out of the old Oyo state in 1991 and we have always shared a chequered history. Our dream of quick win of LAUTECH will become a success with our brother and lover of development, Senator Adeleke as governor.”
It also tasked the tribunal handling the fallout of the 2019 presidential election, instituted by its presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, to remain steadfast and take judiciary notice of the bold steps taken by their brother judges in Osun election petition, to serve as a deterrent to future election riggers and antidemocratic tendencies in our nation’s quest for free, fair, transparent and credible elections.
