Osun Guber: APC Heads to Tribunal to Challenge Adeleke’s Victory

Yinka Kolawole in Osogbo

Three weeks after the conduct of the Osun State governorship election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) has said that the party had concluded plans to drag the Independent National Electoral Commission, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, before Election Petition Tribunal.

The state Chairman of the party, Prince Gboyega Famodun, who stated this at a press conference held at the party secretariat in Osogbo, yesterday, said there was no cause for alarm as the party is going to reclaim its mandate through legal means.

According to Famodun, the party and the state Governor, Gboyega Oyetola legal counsel has stated that they have a very good case at the tribunal, expressing optimism that the will of the people over the July 16 gubernatorial election shall prevail.

He stressed that: “We are going to the tribunal, and our lawyers have let us know that we have good cases at the tribunal.

While speaking on the anti-party activities allegations leveled against former state Governor and current Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, and his supporters, Famodun said the party has set up a machinery to investigate them, assuring that all the erring party members shall be dealt with in accordance with the party’s constitution.

On whether the party’s constitution allows punishment of any earring member, he said: “As it is, there is a room for discipline within the party constitution but it must be legally followed.

“We have set up machinery to investigate the activities of these individuals in their different wards; we will get report from the ward chairmen on how they have been behaving in their wards in the past few years.

“It will be interesting to know that we are so magnanimous enough. I read in my speech that some of them had not been showing up with the party for the past three years.

“They threw caution into the wind as they believe that what they are doing is quite right. So we called for the ward chairmen to write report on all of them, and the constitution of the party will be used to deal with their different offences as it occurs to us.

“Let’s remind you how all the lieutenants and followers of Aregbesola had been boasting that they would ensure that Governor Oyetola would not be re-elected in the governorship election.

“Surprisingly, Aregbesola and his group of ever belligerent and bellicose supporters actually acted by openly campaigning and subsequently voting against Oyetola in the election, which is part of the reasons for the current plight of our party in our state.

“It was on record that the Interior Minister never took part in any of our governorship campaign, while he also jetted out of the country during the election in order not to take part in such an important election in his state where he is the highest beneficiary by way of an appointment as a minister.

“As if that was not enough, the group under the chairmanship of one Elder Adebiyi Adelowo, the former state acting chairman of the APC, went into a wild jubilation after the declaration of the results of the governorship election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke, is the winner of the election.”