The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State has alerted voters in Akoko South East/ Akoko South West Federal Constituency, that the All Progressives Congress (APC) has no candidate in the Saturday National Assembly elections.
The APC lost out at the federal high court last week, after the court ruled that the party’s candidate, Adegboyega Adefarati, did not emerge through a legal primary election.
The PDP in a statement on Tuesday through Kennedy Ikantu Peretei, its State Publicity Secretary, however, urged the voters in the constituency to go out and vote massively for its candidate, Gbenga Kolawole.
“The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ondo State, salutes this courageous decision of the Court and at the same time congratulates our Candidate, Arch Gbenga Kolawole who has by this judgement is very close to victory even before the election,” the statement read.
The statement is reproduced below:
Just about four days to the Presidential and National Assembly Elections, the All Progressives Congress (APC) is seeking legal remedies to ameliorate their self-inflicted calamity in Akoko South East/ Akoko South West Federal Constituency where Federal High Court sitting in Akure has declared for the second time that, the APC does not have a candidate for the February 25th House of Representatives election in Akoko Southeast/Southwest Federal Constituency.
The APC Primary for the Federal Constituency which produced Adegboyega Adefarati as candidate was held at the International Event Centre (Dome) Akure, in flagrant abuse and violation of the Electoral Act 2022 as amended. The primary was annulled and new one was ordered to be conducted but the APC ignored the Court order.
Typical of the APC, they tried to circumvent the law and manipulate the process towards a prepared answer again and another charade called primary election was conducted against the order of Court and letters of the Electoral Act 2022.
But, on Friday, 17th February, the hens finally came home to roost at the Federal High Court sitting in Akure emphatically declared that, in the eye of the law, APC has not conducted election and therefore has no candidate. APC is also barred from conducting another election, their candidate restrained from parading himself as a candidate of APC in the election and INEC was also restrained from accepting any name from APC as a candidate. The implication of this is that APC is technically and legally knocked out from participating in the House of Representatives election in Akoko Southeast/ Southwest Federal Constituency.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Ondo State, salutes this courageous decision of the Court and at the same time congratulates our Candidate, Arch Gbenga Kolawole who has by this judgement is very close to victory even before the election.
Our party empathises with APC Chairman in Ondo State, Ade Adetimehin who shamelessly made public his party’s intention to appeal the judgment. While we wish APC good luck in chasing shadows, we appeal to the good people of Akoko South East/Akoko South West to vote PDP come February 25 as the APC has no candidate in the election and any vote for APC shall be nothing but waste. They are only crying when the head is already off.
We also wish to alert the public that APC is boasting of filing an appeal and obtaining a stay of execution against the judgment. While we concede that it is the right of APC to Appeal, we wish to state, it is a legal impossibility and a deliberate falsehood to claim that a stay of execution shall be obtained, this is because a declaratory judgment cannot be stayed, aside that, the procedure is strange to pre-election matter which is sui generis.
Appeal is a long procedure that cannot be completed before the election day and we wish APC well in their pursuit of wild goose chase emanating from their inability to manage their own primary election and stay within the acceptable norms.
We thank the People of Akoko Southeast/Southwest Federal Constituency for their steadfastness and abiding hope in PDP.
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