All Progressives Congress (APC) has claimed to have uncovered alleged plans by Oyo Governor, Oluseyi Makinde and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to heat up the polity with a view to stampeding the judiciary and whipping up undue sentiments ahead of the Supreme Court’s final resolution of the controversy surrounding 2019 governorship poll in the state.
The appellate court sitting in Ibadan had, on November 11, 2019, set aside the Election Petition Tribunal earlier judgment which upheld the declaration of Makinde as the winner of the March 9 governorship election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
But the decision of the Court of Appeal was viewed as not declarative enough and both Makinde and the APC candidate, Adebayo Adelabu, have reportedly approached the apex court in Abuja for final determination of the case.
Oyo APC, in a statement in Ibadan by its Assistant Publicity Secretary, Ayobami Adejumo, raised the alarm that it had uncovered plans by the Makinde camp to sponsor street protests, media write-ups and broadcast media content which would be aimed at creating an impression that Makinde won a free and fair mandate and any attempt by the judiciary to act on its findings would spark public unrest in the state.
“In demonstration of their desperation to hold on to a stolen mandate, Makinde and his lackeys have concluded plans to devote enormous resources of the state to certain activities aimed at misleading the Supreme Court over the all-important case before it. In fact, the arrow head of the plot is a turncoat currently serving in the PDP government and who is popular for constituting a nuisance in the mass media at any given opportunity.
“Feelers from the Agodi Government House have it that different groups of unscrupulous elements in the society are already lined up for sponsored protests to be carried out consistently in Abuja and Ibadan any moment from now until the day of the judgment which they know would not be in their favour on account of the reality of the electoral fraud which earned them the fake mandate they currently enjoy.
“As much as we would not make any attempt to preempt the apex court and discuss the case before it, we are optimistic that justice would be done very soon and by the time the whole state is made to know the degree of electoral fraud perpetrated by the PDP and other collaborators in the shameful acts, no single God-fearing person would be left in doubt of Makinde’s aversion to truth, justice and development of democracy in the land,” APC said.
In a swift reaction, PDP described APC as a bunch of desperate politicians who are afraid of their shadows.
The PDP, which spoke through its Publicity Secretary, Akeem Olatunji, said the election petition filed against the victory of Governor Makinde was doomed to fail, being a bad case ab initio.
He further stated that the APC petition has been found to be a wasted effort by the election tribunal and the appeal tribunal, adding that the petition will fail all through.
“They know they have no case, but being characters who are not ashamed of telling lies in the open, they are attempting to deceive the fickle-minded and the unsuspecting persons.
“But they have a bad case from the outset. They have no case, we all know. Even their candidate knows he is on a wide goose chase,” the PDP spokesman said.