James Sowole in Akure
A former National Vice Chairman of All Progressives Congress (APC), Mr. Bankole Oluwajana at the weekend said the victory of Ondo State Governor, Pastor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu and his Deputy, Mr. Lucky Aiyedatiwa at the Supreme Court on Wednesday was divinely ordained.
Oluwajana, therefore, congratulated Akeredolu and his deputy, urging them to speed up the implementation of the eight-point development their administration had designed to make Ondo an investment destination.
He made these remarks in a statement he issued on Friday in response to the decision of the apex court, saying the decision of the apex court had put an end to the series of litigations that followed Akeredolu’s re-election
In his statement, Oluwajana said the judgment confirmed Akeredolu’s overwhelming victory in the October 10, 2020 governorship election in which he won by landslide in 15 out 18 local government area (LGAs) in the state.
Now that all legal contests have been concluded, Oluwajana noted that Akeredolu would concentrate on the sustained implementation of his eight-point development agenda aimed at redeeming the state’s lost glory.
He added that Akeredolu’s victory “is divinely ordained from the outcome of the governorship election to the conclusion of the legal fireworks that followed it. With the decision of the Supreme Court, God has perfected what He started.
“Every stage has proved that Akeredolu is popular among the Ondo people and his re-election is ordained from Heaven despite diverse multi-level litigations that could have truncated people’s mandate,” the APC chieftain said.
Oluwajana, therefore, congratulated the governor and his deputy, urging them to speed up the implementation of the administration’s eight-point development agenda, which they conceived to redefine the future of the state.
As the development agenda envisages, according to him, accelerating massive infrastructure development, ensuring efficient service delivery, promoting rural and agricultural development, maintaining law and order for adequate security and providing effective health care and social welfare services will make Ondo State economically competitive and socially stable.
The governorship candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Eyitayo Jegede had challenged Akeredolu’s victory in the October 10, 2020 governorship election in which the governor polled 292,830, as against Jegede who garnered 195,791.
Jegede had lost petitions respectively at the Ondo State Election Petitions Tribunal and Court of Appeal, both of which dismissed the appeal for lack of merit
In its split decision yesterday, the apex court upheld Akeredolu’s victory in the last governorship election in Ondo State, putting an end to the legal squabble over the legality of the process.
In the majority judgment delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, four of the seven-member panel, dismissed the appeal by Eyitayo Jegede and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on the grounds that it was incompetent.
Justice Agim upheld an earlier judgment of the Court of Appeal, that the petition filed by Jegede and his party at the election tribunal was incompetent because they failed to include Yobe Governor and Chairman of the Caretaker Committee of the APC, Mai Mala Buni as a party.
