The People’s Democratic Party in Ogun State has said it is not jittery over what could be the judgment of the Supreme Court on the March 18 governorship election in the state.
The PDP noted that it believes that the Supreme Court will set the records straight and give the party a favourable judgment.
The governorship candidate of the PDP in Ogun, Oladipupo Adebutu, said he had completed the process of filing his appeal at the Supreme Court over the March 18 election.
Adebutu had earlier challenged the election of Governor Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress, citing alleged over-voting, gross misconduct, disenfranchisement by violence and non-compliance with the electoral act.
In September, the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal dismissed the petition, saying it lacked merit.
Similarly, the Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos, in a split judgment, dismissed Adebutu’s appeal in November while affirming Abiodun as the duly elected governor of the state.
Speaking on the election petition during an end-of-the-year party held by the PDP at the state party secretariat in Abeokuta over the weekend, Adebutu and the state Secretary of the PDP, Sunday Solarin, stressed that the party was too big to be intimidated.
“The party (PDP) actually won the election and that is why we are still in court we believe quite well that the Supreme Court will set the records straight because it is a court of policy and there are a lot of policy errors we think should have given us favourable judgment at the lower courts, but we know that we are going to get the victory at the Supreme Court.
“We are not jittery over the Supreme Court judgment because we know that we have a good case. The judges at the lower courts have been dwelling on technicalities, and we know that some of these technical excuses will not anchor on the justices of the Supreme Court.
“We know that once the Supreme Court looks at our case on an evidence basis and attaches probative values to some of the documents we presented, we can have our way and we are optimistic that we will definitely have our way,” Solarin said.
In his words, Adebutu described members of the opposition party as ‘children’ of President Bola Tinubu, asking the APC to desist from “intimidating members of the opposition party” on the basis that they have the backing of the President.
“This (event) is not about one party, we have seen the governorship candidate of the Labour Party here, Mr Kehinde Sogunle; even some part of the APC who joined forces with us during the last election, and that is why we have told them to stop intimidating us, we are all Tinubu’s children.
“Our own party here is a party that preaches one Nigeria and one Ogun State. We are not campaigning here today but we must still speak the truth and speak it loudly,” the candidate stated.
Speaking on the vote-buying allegation against him, Adebutu said, “At a time, they said my offence was money laundry; they said I gave you money. Meanwhile, we shall talk when the time is right because it is my money that I am giving to people; but that man, he is spending government money, he will explain in due time.”
Governor Abiodun, after the Appeal Court declared him the winner of the election, called on Adebutu to join him, instead of running from pillar to post.
“I want to invite all our opponents who have tried their best in their quest to also govern the state; indeed, you mean well for the good people of the state.
“Having failed at the polls, tribunal, and the appeal, you should come and join hands with us and stop running from pillar to post.
“Having failed to buy the election, the tribunal and the appeal, stop running from pillar to post.
“If you indeed mean well for the good people of the state, come and join hands with us in our determined resolve to build the future of this great state together,” the governor said in a veiled reference to Adebutu.
The Independent National Electoral Commission on March 19 declared Abiodun the winner in Ogun after polling 276,298 votes. The governor defeated Adebutu, who came second with 262,383 votes.
