Appeal Court ruling: ‘No one can snatch the joy of Oyo people’ – Makinde

The Oyo State Governor, Engr Seyi Makinde, has deck that the mandate of the people of Oyo State given to him through the March 9, 2019, remains intact following the ruling of the Court of Appeal in Ibadan on Monday.

Governor Makinde, in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Taiwo Adisa, also declared that the mandate given to him by the people of Oyo State cannot be taken through the backdoor.

The statement stressed: “There is no ambiguity as to the state of things in our Pacesetter State as far as the election of March 9, 2019, is concerned. Our party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the election.

The victory was reaffirmed by a ruling of the Election Petitions Tribunal, sitting in Ibadan, the state capital.

“On Monday, the Court of Appeal, also sitting in Ibadan, delivered its judgement on the appeal by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adebayo Adelabu.

“In its ruling, the Appeal Court refused to grant any of the three key reliefs sought by the APC candidate.

“The Court refused to nullify the election; it refused to order a fresh election and it also refused to order the retrial of the petition.

“With the above being the reality of the outcome of the Appeal Court ruling, the election of Engineer Seyi Makinde as the Governor of Oyo State has just been reaffirmed.

“There is nothing in the Appeal Court’s ruling that affects the returns made by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and there is nothing that tampers with the mandate freely given to Engineer Seyi Makinde by the people of Oyo State.”

“Governor Makinde hereby urges the good people of Oyo State to remain calm and refuse to be provoked by agents of disruption who are seeking to upturn the truth, which remains constant against all odds.

“We also wish to enjoin the people of Oyo State to ignore the doctored reports in some media outlets, which are merely quoting the judgement of the Court of Appeal out of context.

“With a clear margin of Makinde’s 515,621 votes to Adelabu’s 357,982 votes, the preference of the people of Oyo State is as clear as day and night”, the statement added.

While reassuring the people of Oyo State that he cannot be deterred from taking the state to greater heights through the implementation of his four-point service agenda, Governor Makinde insisted that positive governance and unprecedented development will continue to be the portion of the people of Oyo state through his tenure.