Osun Guber Poll: My mandate cannot be stolen through backdoor, I’ll defend it at tribunal – Adeleke

Osun governor-elect, Senator Ademola Adeleke, has said that he won’t allow his victory to be stolen through the backdoor as he is ready to defend it at the election petition tribunal and retain his mandate.

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the July 18 Osun governorship election said his emergence as governor-elect was in total compliance with the law and the peoples’ will.

Adeleke’s spokesman, Malam Olawale Rasheed, disclosed this in a statement issued on Saturday in Osogbo, the Osun State capital.

KEMI FILANI NEWS reported that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Adeleke, the election winner with 403,371 votes against Governor Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who scored 375,027 votes.

Oyetola had filed a petition before an election tribunal on Friday challenging the election’s outcome.

Adeleke stated that the people’s mandate, freely given against overwhelming odds, would be defended and validated.

He disclosed that PDP’s Legal Department was taking appropriate action on the petition and called on his supporters to remain calm.

“This divine victory cannot be stolen through the backdoor.

“I urge the good people of Osun who voted massively to reject bad governance to remain calm.

“We are doing the needful to defend their mandate.

“We will do all within our powers to ensure judicial validation of our victory as this is an election globally certified as a great advancement in electoral transparency and integrity.

“We also want to reaffirm our faith in the judiciary as a bastion of hope and justice.

“We have unshakeable trust in God that this election petition shall end in another landmark victory for us and the resilient people of Osun,’’ he said.