Published
on August 21, 2022
A chieftain of the All Progressives Congress in Ekiti State, Hon. Adesola Gold Adedayo has told the Social Democratic Party, SDP, governorship candidate, Engr Segun Oni that “his persistent blackmails against the Ekiti governor-elect, Biodun Oyebanji will not earn him victory at the election petition tribunal.
Adedayo said it sounded spurious, hypocritical and demeaning for the Segun Oni’s legal team to be concocting lies and making incendiary comments against Oyebanji and the All Progressives Congress, claiming that they were allegedly planning to tinker with the election materials at INEC to pervert justice.
The Osun-Ekiti born former Senior Legislative Assistant at the National Assembly, condemned such vituperations, saying Oyebanji won the June 18 poll and needed no help from INEC to triumph over Oni and SDP on their ruinous voyage at the Tribunal.
Segun Oni’s campaign organisation and legal team, through a senior Lawyer, Owoseeni Ajayi, had last week accused Oyebanji, APC and INEC of planning to secretly inspect some materials at the commission to alter some records and put Oni in a disadvantaged position in the prosecution of his case.
Disproving the claim by urging Oni to stop acting like “attack dog” in the prosecution of his case, Adedayo, in a statement, on Sunday, posited that no amount of blackmail would sway the judiciary to award unmerited victory to the former governor.
The APC stalwart said Oni lost scandalously even in his Ido/Osi Local Government in the last election, which he said confirmed how acceptable the APC’s candidate, Biodun Oyebanji was to the electorate.
Adedayo added that Oyebanji’s winning streak and margin of victory was not only stunning, but enigmatic in the election trajectory in Ekiti.
The aviation expert said: “Let Segun Oni and SDP handlers, who erroneously shared the views that propaganda can earn them backdoor victory in this judicial battle, study the trajectory of the election and draw their inferences.
“The June 18 election had the highest margin of victory in the history of Ekiti. Hon Biodun Oyebanji trounced Segun Oni with a total of 105,000 votes. This had never happened in Ekiti since 1999.
“Again, Biodun Oyebanji recorded the highest number of spread, winning in 15 out of 16 local governments. Let those who are about constituting themselves into troublers of Israel to also check their election records and confirm whether any contestant had ever beaten this enigmatic record.
“It was shameful that Segun Oni even lost in his Ido/Osi Council, which confirmed how rejected he was. Even the candidate of the PDP, Bisi Kolawole, who came distant third, manifested a high level of acceptability, by winning in his base at Efon Local Local Government.
“It was lucid and well amplified by the margin and spread of victory that Oyebanji was the choice of the Ekiti electorate and he has no reason to engage INEC in any shady deal to pervert or subvert justice in this matter”.
Adedayo counseled Oni and SDP against spewing blackmail and propaganda to sway the tribunal members, saying election petition is won based on the quantum of evidence provided, which he said Oni lacks in this matter.
“A good litigant, who is well armed with an avalanche of evidence that have probative values, won’t be relying on propaganda as Oni and SDP had been doing.
“Their recent outbursts indicated that they were only out to cause confusion in the system and discredit the election and not to upturn Biodun Oyebanji’s victory, because they lack the evidence to substantiate all their claims”, he said.
