By James Sowole
Ondo State Governor, Mr Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, Wednesday said that the Supreme Court’s judgment, which affirmed his return as the governor of the state for a second term, has affirmed Mr Eyitayo Jegede’s petition as frivolous.
Akeredolu stated this while reacting to the decision of the apex court, which dismissed the appeal of his main opposition in the October 10, 2020 election.
The Supreme Court, had Wednesday in a split decision of four to three in favour of Akeredolu, dismissed Jegede’s appeal.
Akeredolu said: “I just heard the news of the final decision of the final court on the election petition filed by my brother, Eyitayo Jegede (SAN).
“The justices have affirmed that the petition was most frivolous. As you know 12 Justices have affirmed in our favour and only three supported that petition. Three at the tribunal, five at the Court of Appeal and four at the Supreme Court.
“So, I’ve every reason to thank God and to appreciate our judiciary for standing by the truth and for not yielding to any influence. I believe that we can still be proud of our judiciary in this country.
“For me, it is an opportunity again for us to get on board and do more work.
“And for me, the glory of the victory of this election petition success is to God Almighty. And I want to thank the legal team that have represented us. We have so many Senior Advocates of Nigeria.
“We thank the INEC team led by Charles Edosanwan and Bawa, both of them SAN. We thank also the APC team led by Lateef Fabgbemi (SAN) and others including Sola Oke (SAN).
I want to also thank my team led by Akinola Olujimi (SAN) for their work. We now plan to get this behind us and get to work.
“My advice to Jegede is that this has ended now. Let him come, let us work together, at least for the upliftment of Ondo State. I don’t doubt his love for the state. He has served here before as Attorney General for about seven and a half years.
“Let him come over; let us work together and work for this state. That is my advice to him. We don’t go any longer to the privy council. It has ended here.”
