Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State is confident he will defeat his predecessor Gboyega Oyetola despite the tribunal judgement in his favour.
The governor spoke on Friday in Osogbo at a meeting with Unit-to-Unit Ambassadors of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun West District.
Adeleke stressed that the judiciary plays an important role in strengthening democracy, recalling pronouncements that had helped to stabilise the nation.
Noting that he has unshaken faith in the system, the Osun governor described himself as a beneficiary of judicial intervention.
“I cannot forget how the judiciary cleared me of forgery allegations. You can’t have a strong democracy unless we all hold the judiciary as the indispensable arbiter,” he said.
Adeleke announced the process of appealing the tribunal ruling is ongoing and believes his mandate would be revalidated.
He said the verdict got people of the state emotional and urge everyone to be calm and go about their daily activities peacefully.
“We have all the grounds to appeal and we are doing that. By God and man, our mandate will be revalidated through the same judicial process,” he stated.
The Justice Tertsea Kume-led tribunal held that the July 16, 2022 governorship election was not conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act.
The majority judgement declared that Oyetola scored the majority lawful votes of 314,931 against Adeleke’s 290,266 after invalid votes were deducted.
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