The All Progressives Congress, APC, in Ogun State has congratulated Governor Dapo Abiodun on his victory at the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal on Saturday.
The tribunal, sitting in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital, chaired by Justice H. N. Kunaza, and supported by Justice J B Egele (Member 1) and Justice Sannusi Shehu (Member 2) dismissed the petition filed by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and its defeated candidate, Ladi Adebutu, on the grounds of incompetence, vagueness and lack of understanding of the usage of the wordings of the Electoral Act, among others; resulting in inability of the petitioners to prove any of the grounds of the petition.
The APC, in a statement by its publicity secretary, Mr. Tunde Oladunnoye, quoted the state chairman of the party, Chief Yemi Sanusi, as describing the victory of the party at the polls and the tribunal as “divine mandate”.
“We went round the 20 local government areas of the state, we went to some local governments twice, we campaigned vigorously in the wards, we showcased what our party and government have done in four years and was doing. In most of our campaigns, we commissioned projects and inaugurated new ones which was unprecedented in the electioneering annals of Nigeria. Our people believed in us, trusted us and voted for continuity. We had no doubt about our electoral victory and it was indeed a divine mandate,” Sanusi said.
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“We have always known that the PDP is as disorganised as its ramshackle petitions which the party and its highly incompetent and run away defeated candidate knew or ought to have known cannot succeed. They merely wanted to reap where they did not sow, forgetting that you can’t build something on nothing. The tribunal has rightly done justice and due diligence to their spurious petitions. We only hope that Ladi Adebutu will eat the humble pie and return to Nigeria and face the criminal charges of votes buying and money laundering hanging on his neck at the High Court. We challenge him to be man enough to return to Nigeria,” the APC chairman said.
Sanusi also commended the victorious legal team: “Our party and governor assembled the best brains in election tribunal warfare in Nigeria today. There is no election dispute of note that is relied on in this case that at least one of our lawyers is not a part of,” he added.
“Finally, to God be the biggest credit and glory. We appreciate the unusual grace of God upon Prince Dapo Abiodun, to the chagrin of his detractors. Not many have this grace that when you think they are locked in, God opens the roof for them to walk free. Till today, many cannot understand why God chose Dapo Abiodun against all odds, but He did, and there is nothing his detractors could do about it,” Sanusi concluded.
