The Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, has declared that the mandate of the people of Oyo State given to him through the March 9, 2019 election, 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, declared that the mandate given to him by the people of Oyo State cannot be taken through the backdoor.
The statement read: “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 People’s 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 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.”
The statement added: “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.