- Heads for appeal court

People's Democratic Party, PDP, in Ogun State, has said that the last Saturday's judgement of the Election Petition Tribunal was based on 'hilarious technicalities without considering the substance of the case.

A statement by the Director of Media, Ladi Adebutu Campaign Organisation, Afolabi Orekoya, Monday, said the party has mandated its legal team to appeal the judgement, saying it will not relent until justice is served.

According to the statement, the party will not relent until all legal avenues are exhausted in its quest at ensuring that the will of the people is upheld and justice prevails.

It said substantial evidences which raised serious questions about the conduct of the election, including marked ballot papers, were submitted before the tribunal, but were ignored.

According to the statement, the legal team of the PDP presented enough evidences which established non compliance with the electoral act, amongst other alleged infractions, before the tribunal.

"This judgment which was based solely on hilarious technicalities failed to consider the substantial merits and evidence tendered during the trial.

"We submitted substantial evidence that raised serious questions about the conduct of the election, even marked ballot papers and we are confident that a closer examination of this evidence would have revealed the true nature of the irregularities and discrepancies that occurred during the election.

"In the course of the trial, 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙚𝙣𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙙 𝙣𝙤𝙣-𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙞𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨' 𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧 49,000 𝙫𝙤𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 which is higher than the margin of lead of 13,915 as “purportedly” declared by INEC; the ballot boxes snatching, over voting among many other electoral malpractices perpetuated by Mr Dapo Abiodun and its party, the APC.

"We obtained duly Certified True Copies of documents from the electoral umpire, INEC, and paid for with official receipts to back our claims which proved all the content of our petition and justified our concerns over the election.

"Regrettably, the 𝙏𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙨𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙨 𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙣𝙞𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙀𝙣𝙜𝙡𝙞𝙨𝙝 𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙣𝙜𝙖𝙜𝙚 𝙞𝙣 𝙖 𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝 𝙚𝙭𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙡𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙥𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙚𝙙.

"We condemn unequivocally the judgement of the tribunal, consequently, 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙩𝙤 𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙖𝙡 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙟𝙪𝙙𝙜𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙗𝙪𝙣𝙖𝙡. We will not relent until due Justice is served."

The party, while maintaining that it will not retard in seeking desired justice for the people of Ogun State, said that the court may no longer be the hope of common man with what was displayed during the judgement.

"With what was displayed at the tribunal on Saturday, 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙘𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩 𝙢𝙖𝙮 𝙣𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙤𝙛 𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙤𝙣 𝙢𝙖𝙣 who may seek redress through the court shortly if not curtailed.

"Again, we will not retard in seeking desired justice for the people of Ogun State whose mandate was hijacked by the enemies of democracy and due process.

"As much as you are aware, this set of individuals did everything possible to ensure the PDP and Adebutu were not on the ballot before the election but we came out victorious."