Former Oyo State governor Abiola Ajimobi of the All Progressives Congress ( APC) and Senator Kola Balogun of the People’s Democratic Party ( PDP) will on Thursday know their fate as the Court of Appeal determines whether the lower tribunal was right to have upheld the victory of the PDP candidate or not.
Ajimobi and Balogun contested the Oyo South Senatorial District election during the last poll.
But both the PDP and the APC yesterday expressed optimism that the Appeal Court judgment would favour their candidate.
While the APC argued that the appellate court will on Thursday declare its candidate, Senator Ajimobi winner of the election or order a rerun in the areas believed to have witnessed irregularities, the PDP was sure that the Appeal Court would uphold the judgment of the Election Petition Tribunal.
The spokesperson of the APC, Dr. Abdul Azeez Olatunde , and his counterpart in the PDP, Akeem Olatunji , in a separate statements made available to The Nation in Ibadan yesterday, argued over the Appeal Court judgment of Thursday.
The APC said: “”If there was no irregularity, there would be no subtraction and addition. The fact that the Oyo Tribunal confirmed that there was irregularity with the deduction of some votes, which were found to have been illegally concocted by the INEC , it is obvious that if they cannot give the seat of the Oyo South Senatorial District to Abiola Ajimobi , a rerun ought to have been ordered for the disputed areas where there were irregularities which were confirmed by the lower court. So, we are optimistic that the Appeal Court will either give the mandate to Senator Abiola Ajimobi or order a rerun in the disputed areas. ”
Similarly, the Oyo State PDP insisted that there was no ambiguity in the lower court’s judgment, which declared Balogun, in a unanimous ruling, as the winner of the election.
It added that the people’s popular choice would prevail.
The party said: “The Oyo State PDP is confident of victory in the Appeal filed by Sen Abiola Ajimobi of APC against the people’s choice and current Senator representing Oyo South Senatorial District, Sen Kola Balogun.
“There is no ambiguity in the lower court’s judgment, which declared Sen Kola Balogun in a unanimous ruling as the winner of the election. But it’s not out of place for a candidate and party that have lost acceptance among the populace and more worrisome among their members, to look for the last straw for survival and that’s exactly what Sen Ajimobi and Oyo State APC are doing.”
Credit: The Nation
