The Chief Press Secretary to Osun Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, Ismail Omipidan, has declared that the governor will appeal the verdict of an Abuja Federal High Court nullifying his candidature in the July 16 Governorship poll.
Omipidan who appealed to supporters of the governor to remain calm in the face of the decision noted that their team of lawyers would be challenging the decision at the Appeal Court, just as he expressed confidence that the decision would be set aside.
He further noted that the case was instituted by the opposition, the Peoples Democratic Party, (PDP) in spite of the fact there is a plethora of decisions flowing from the apex court that frowns upon such a decision.
For the records, Omipidan explained 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 of their plans, this too has fallen flat on their faces.
“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,” Omipidan said.
It would be recalled that the court on Friday nullified the nomination of Governor Isiaka Oyetola and his Deputy Governorship candidate, Benedict Alabi on the ground that Governor Mai Mala Buni who submitted their names to 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.