Turaki-led PDP backs Adeleke for Osun poll

The Tanimu Turaki-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has declared its support for Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Accord in the Saturday governorship election in Osun.

Mr Ini Ememobong, National Publicity Secretary, PDP Interim National Working Committee, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.

The News Agency of Nigeria NAN reports that Ememobong was reacting to the Court of Appeal judgment on the party’s candidate in the governorship election.

He commended the judgment which upheld the nomination of Adebayo Adedamola as the party’s candidate for the election in the state.

Ememobong said that the party’s lawyers had informed the INWC that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday upheld the nomination of Adedamola, as submitted by the Turaki-led faction.

He also noted that the court directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately include the party’s logo on the ballot for the election.

“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 election.

“Specifically, it held 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,” he said.

Ememobong said that the judgment confirmed what he described as bias and unceasing opposition by INEC against the Turaki-led INWC which, according to him, is the legitimate leadership of the party.

“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.

“The party approached the court and today the Court of Appeal allowed the appeal by the Turaki-led PDP and directed INEC to include the party’s logo on the ballot papers for the elections,” Ememobong said.

He said that though justice had finally been done, the delay amounted to a denial, as there was no opportunity for Adedamola to undertake campaigns in preparation for the election.

Ememobong added that the situation, which he described as ugly, would have been avoided had INEC acted in partisan way.

“Faced with the unimaginable difficulty that the situation put on PDP, the iNWC choose to throw its weight behind the Accord party candidature, Gov. Ademola Adeleke.

“As a true opposition party and in defence of multi-party democracy, and after exhaustive consultations with key stakeholders, the committee has decided to support the candidature of Gov. Adeleke of Accord party for Saturday’s governorship election.

“We therefore ask all our members to vote for Gov. Adeleke.

“We encourage them to go out on Saturday to vote, defend their votes and ensure that their votes count in the election,” he said.

Ememobong urged Nigerians to resist a do-or-die approach to election and the desperation of winning election against the clear wishes of the people.

“Elections must be a true reflection of the people’s wish, freely expressed through the ballot. Anything short of that is robbery and must not be allowed to stand,” he said.

(NAN)