The All Progressives Congress(APC) in Ekiti State has rejected the election tribunal’s judgement that sacked the Senator representing Ekiti South Senatorial District, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, and declared Senator Biodun Olujimi of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) winner.
The party described the judgement as a travesty of justice, while asserting that it won the February 23, 2019 Senatorial election in the state.
In a unanimous verdict last week, the three-man election petition tribunal headed by Justice Danladi Adeck cancelled votes in some units across the six local councils in the district and consequently declared Olujimi winner.
Speaking through its South Senatorial District Chairman, Hon Akin Akinbobola, at a meeting held in Omuo Ekiti on Wednesday, the APC stakeholders described the judgement as strange and clear negation of the wishes of the people in the district.
According to Akinbobola, those who exercised their civic rights during the election voted massively for APC, but the verdict of the tribunal didn’t reflect their desire.
“We are surprised by the outcome of the tribunal. We reject it and it will not stand the test of time because the people voted for APC.
” The outcome was meant to rob us of victory and put our party in disarray as well as raise unnecessary dust in the area, but we are not bothered,” he added.
An APC youth leader in Ekiti East, Hon. Gbade Olusegun, also stated that Adeyeye emerged through a transparent and credible election, contrary to what the tribunal reflected.
” It was unfortunate that the tribunal acted contrary to the wishes of the people by awarding undeserved victory to the PDP candidate. We assure that the celebration by the opposition members would be short-lived.
“The tribunal had delivered its verdict, which is more or less a joy that will soon be truncated. Senator Adeyeye is a man of the people and we will not allow the mandate given to him to be stolen by PDP,” he said.
APC Women Leader, Hon. Rachael Ibukun, expressed the hope that the Court of Appeal will redress what she described as ‘jungle ‘justice” handed down by the tribunal.
“The judiciary is supposed to be the bastion of the common man and we are confident that what the opposition has now is a Pyrrhic Victory.”