The Chief Press Secretary to Osun State Governor, Ismail Omipidan, has told the loyalist of his principal, Governor Adegboyega Oyetola not to panic with the judgment of a Federal High Court that disqualified his candidature in the July 16 Osun governorship election.
Omipidan stated that Oyetola’s team of lawyers are ready to challenge the decision at the Appeal Court, just as he expressed confidence that the decision would be set aside.
ENTRUST REPORTERS had earlier reported that while delivering the judgment the court held that Governor Buni acted in contravention of the provision of Section 183 of the Constitution when he held dual executive positions as the Governor of Yobe State and the Chairman of the National Caretaker Committee of APC had led to the nullification of Governor Oyetola and Alabi nomination to INEC by law.
Omipidan noted that the case was instituted by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in spite of the fact there are decisions flowing from the apex court that frown upon such a decision.
The press secretary stated the position of the law, for record purposes, that only members of the APC who participated in the primary election can approach the court to challenge the nomination of Oyetola as the candidate of the party.
“All these are part of the strategies of the opposition PDP and their agents from within to get us distracted. But like every one of their plans, this too has fallen flat on their faces”, Omipidan stated.
“They want to distract us from the Tribunal case. But we shall remain focused until we take back our mandate. We have confidence in the Tribunal to do justice in the case before it, just as we have implicit confidence in the Appeal Court to set aside this latest decision of the Federal High Court.”
The opposition, PDP, had through its counsel, Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN, challenged the nomination and sponsorship of Oyetola and his deputy as candidates of the APC for the governorship election.
While delivering judgement, Justice Emeka Nwite agreed with the submissions of the PDP’s counsel that the suit commenced in line with the provisions of Section 285(14) (C) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He thereby declared the nomination of Oyetola and Alabi by the APC as null and void.
