Ismail Omipidan, the chief press secretary to Osun State Governor Adegboyega Oyetola, has urged his supporters to maintain composure in the wake of a Federal High Court ruling that declared his participation in the July 16 governorship election invalid.
While expressing optimism that the judgement would be overturned, Omipidan highlighted that Oyetola's legal team will be contesting the ruling at the Appeal Court.
He pointed out that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, or PDP, had filed the lawsuit, despite the fact that recent rulings from the supreme court have disapproved of such a choice.
The spokesman 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 one of their plans, this too has fallen flat on their faces”, Omipidan stated.
“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.”
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja had, on Friday, nullified the nomination of Oyetola and his deputy, Benedict Alabi, as the All Progressives Congress (APC)’s a candidate in the July 16, 2022 governorship election on the grounds that Gov. Mai Mala Buni of Yobe, who submitted their names to the Independent National Electoral Commission (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.
Prior to the judgement the PDP, had through its counsel, Kehinde Ogunwumiju, SAN, challenged the nomination and sponsorship of Oyetola and his deputy as candidates of the APC for the governorship election.
In his judgement, Justice Nwite agreed with the submissions of the PDP’s counsel that the suit commenced in line with the provisions of Section 285(14) (C) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He therefore declared as null and void the nomination of Oyetola and Alabi by the APC.