August 06, (THEWILL) – Osun’s governor-elect, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has said he is ready to defend his victory at the election petition tribunal and retain his mandate.
THEWILL earlier reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Sunday, July 17, declared Adeleke, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), winner of the Osun guber poll.
Adeleke had polled 403,371 votes to defeat his closest rival, outgoing Governor Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 375,027 votes, to emerge Governor-elect of Osun State.
But faulting the outcome of the guber poll, outgoing governor Oyetola, on Friday, filed a petition before an election tribunal, challenging the victory of the PDP and its candidate, Adeleke.
The governor-elect, in a statement issued on Saturday, by his spokesman, Olawale Rasheed, said his emergence as governor-elect was entrenched in total compliance with the law and in the will of the people of Osun State.
He claimed that the election was one of the most transparent in recent history in Nigeria, adding that the people’s mandate, freely given against overwhelming odds, would be defended and validated.
The Governor-elect said the PDP’s Legal Department was taking appropriate action on the petition and called on his supporters to remain calm.
“This divine victory cannot be stolen through the backdoor. I urge the good people of Osun 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.
“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”, he said.
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