APC Primary: No Cause For Alarm – Oyetola’s aide

…expresses confidence that Appeal court will set it aside

The Chief Press Secretary to Osun Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, Ismail Omipidan, has appealed to supporters of the governor to remain calm in the face of the decision of a Federal High Court to nullify his candidature in the July 16 Governorship poll.

He noted that their team of lawyers would be challenging the decision at the Appeal Court, just as he expressed confidence that the decision would be set aside.

Omipidan further noted that the case was instituted by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in spite of the fact there is a plethora of decisions flowing from the apex court that frowns upon such a decision.

He said that, for the records, the position of the law is that only members of the APC who participated in the primary election can approach the court to challenge the nomination of Oyetola as the candidate of the party.

“All these are part of the antics of the opposition PDP and some of their collaborators from within to distract us. But like every of their plans, this too has fallen flat on their faces.

“They want to distract us from the Tribunal case. But we shall remain focused until we take back our mandate. We have confidence in the Tribunal to do justice in the case before it, just as we have implicit confidence in the Appeal Court to set aside this latest decision of the Federal High Court,” Omipidan said.

A Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja had nullified the nomination of Governor Adeboyega Oyetola as the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the July 16 governorship election in the State of Osun.

The court, in a judgement delivered by Justice Emeka Nwite on Friday, disqualified Oyetola and the deputy governorship candidate, Benedict Alabi, on the ground that Governor Mai Mala Buni who submitted their names to INEC violated the provisions of Section 183 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Section 82(3) of the Electoral Act 2022.

Buni was the Chairman of National Caretaker and Extra Ordinary Convention Planning Committee of the APC while Oyetola was a member.

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Kehinde Ogunwumiju, had on April 7, 2022 commenced a suit at the Federal High Court to challenge the nomination and sponsorship of Governor Oyetola and his deputy as the duly nominated candidates of the APC.