The Osun State Governor Gboyega Oyetola may engage no fewer than 50 lawyers, including senior advocates, to challenge the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party candidate, Ademola Adeleke, in last Saturday’s governorship election in the state.
A member of the governor’s legal team, Kunle Adegoke, gave this indication in an interview on Tuesday just as the PDP and the governor-elect warned the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, against allowing the All Progressives Congress, APC, to tamper with election materials.
The governor’s legal team has been sifting through the election results in preparation for taking serious legal action against the declaration of Adeleke as the governor-elect by the INEC.
The electoral body had on Sunday declared Adeleke the winner of the governorship election in the state. The Returning Officer for the election and Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, said Adeleke got a total of 403,371 votes to beat the incumbent APC governor, who polled 375,027 votes and 13 other candidates in the keenly contested race.
Oyetola won in 13 local government areas of the state to come second in the election.
Before his electoral loss, Oyetola, had 2018 defeated Adeleke after a run-off, with the support of his predecessor, and now Minister of Interior, Rauf Aregbesola, and former Lagos state governor and now, APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
After his opponent was declared the winner, the governor in a statement by his Chief Press Secretary, Ismaila Omipidan, told his supporters to remain calm, noting that he would respond after studying the results.
“He, however, noted that the party would be responding appropriately after studying the results and consulting with critical stakeholders of the party”.
When asked about the legal grounds with which Oyetola will be challenging Adeleke, Adegoke stated that they are still studying the election results and building their evidence.
“We are still studying the election results, working on the legal grounds, and building evidence to challenge Adeleke’s declaration as governor-elect; as we speak, about 50 lawyers have indicated interest to join us.” He said.
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