The Ondo State House of Assembly has congratulated Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu on his victory at the Court of Appeal.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Chairman, House Committee on Information, Youth and Sports Development, Olugbenga Omole, on Thursday in Akure.
According to the statement, the Ondo State House of Assembly Speaker, Bamidele Oleyelogun, on behalf of 26 lawmakers, described it as victory well deserved.
The statement read that ”The people of the state unanimously renewed the mandate freely given to Governor Akeredolu during his first tenure in the 2020 polls.
”The governor’s achievement cuts across every sector of the state including infrastructural development, education, health, industrial revolution among others.
“We, as members of state assembly, pledge to continue to work with the Governor towards making his dream to redeem Ondo State a reality.”
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the Court of Appeal sitting in Akure, dismissed the appeal filed by the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party in the last governorship election in the state, Mr Eyitayo Jegede, against Akeredolu who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the election.
NAN reports that the state election petition tribunal had earlier stricken out the petition of the PDP candidate for lack of merit but Jegede approached the appellate court to challenge the verdict of the tribunal.
The appeal court, having examined the seven grounds of appeal tabled by the appellant, dismissed the appeal, saying it lacked merit.
In the judgment delivered virtually, the Justice Theresa Orji-Abadua-led five-man panel of judges said on the seven-issue of appeal, the issues one to five were resolved to favour the appellant while issue three was resolved to favour the respondent, and issue six was partly dismissed and partly allowed while issue seven favoured the respondent.
“The appeal is partly allowed and partly dismissed and the appellant’s case is also dismissed,” the court held.
Meanwhile, the PDP, in a statement issued by its state Publicity Secretary, Kennedy Peretei, expressed its dissatisfaction over the judgment as it declared that the appellate court verdict would be challenged at the Supreme Court.
