Osun State Governor, Ademola Adeleke
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has thrown its support behind the governorship candidate of the Accord Party, Governor Ademola Adeleke, for Saturday’s Osun State governorship election, despite securing a Court of Appeal judgment affirming the nomination of its own candidate.
The decision was announced in a statement on Friday by the party’s National Publicity Secretary of the Interim National Working Committee, Comrade Ini Ememobong, following the appellate court’s ruling in favour of the PDP.
According to the party, the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja upheld the nomination of Adebayo Olugbenga Adedamola as the PDP governorship candidate for the August 15 election and directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately include the party’s logo on the ballot.
The PDP said its lawyers informed the leadership that the appellate court ruled that the party had validly conducted its governorship primary, which was monitored by INEC, and had duly forwarded the name of its candidate to the electoral commission.
The court also held that the nomination portal access code relied upon by INEC was merely an administrative requirement and could not override the legal process through which the party submitted its candidate.
The statement read: “The panel of the Court held that the party having duly conducted primaries which were monitored by INEC, and the name of the winner forwarded to the commission, there was no legal impediment to the participation of the candidate in the elections.”
It further quoted the court as holding that “the access code for nomination on the portal was a mere administrative formality which cannot override the statutory provision of forwarding names to the commission, which PDP had done.”
While welcoming the judgment, the PDP accused INEC of frustrating its participation in the election by refusing to recognise its candidate despite monitoring the primary election.
The party alleged that the electoral commission deliberately withheld the nomination portal access codes, describing the commission’s actions as partisan.
The statement said: “This judgment confirms the persistent bias and unceasing opposition by INEC against the legitimate leadership of our party, in favour of pretenders who are working for the ruling party.”
It added that “The primaries that produced our candidate was peaceful, transparent, and the result uncontested. It was duly monitored by INEC, but the Commission blatantly refused to recognise our candidate thereafter and withheld the codes for the upload of candidates from us.”
Despite the legal victory, the PDP said the judgment came too close to the election date, leaving its candidate with no realistic opportunity to campaign.
According to the party, “Though justice has finally been done, in this case the grant of justice is akin to a denial as there is no opportunity for our candidate to undertake campaigns in preparation for the elections.”
The party further alleged that INEC had failed to act as a neutral electoral umpire.
It stated: “We reiterate our position that INEC is not a neutral umpire, but more of an interested party with the goal of achieving an uncontested or weakly contested elections by the opposition parties, in favour of the ruling party.”
In view of the circumstances, the PDP said its Interim National Working Committee resolved, after consultations with stakeholders, to endorse Governor Adeleke of the Accord Party.
The statement noted that Adeleke was formerly a member of the PDP before leaving the party amid what it described as a prolonged leadership crisis.
The party declared: “The Committee has decided to support the candidature of Governor Ademola Adeleke of Accord Party for Saturday’s governorship elections. Governor Adeleke is a former member of our party who left because of the state-engineered and funded leadership conflict in our party. We therefore ask all our members to vote for Governor Adeleke.”
The PDP also urged its supporters to participate actively in the election and protect the integrity of the electoral process.
It said: “We encourage them to go out on Saturday to vote, defend their votes and ensure that their votes count in the election.”
The party concluded by calling on Nigerians to reject what it described as attempts to undermine the democratic process.
It stated: “Nigerians must resist the shameful do or die disposition of the APC to win elections in places where they are not popular, against the clear wishes of the people. Elections must be a true reflection of the peoples’ wish, freely expressed through the ballot. Anything short of that is robbery and must not be allowed to stand.”
