The faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Tanimu Turaki has endorsed the Accord Party candidate, Governor Ademola Adeleke, ahead of Saturday’s Osun State governorship election.
The endorsement followed a Court of Appeal judgment in Abuja affirming Adebayo Adedamola as the candidate of the Turaki-led PDP faction for the election.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP Interim National Working Committee, Ini Ememobong, announced the decision in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday.
Ememobong said the appellate court also directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately include the PDP logo on the ballot for the governorship poll.
He said the party’s legal representatives had informed the interim committee that the court upheld the nomination of Adedamola, who emerged from the primary conducted by the faction.
According to him, the court ruled that the PDP had fulfilled the necessary requirements after conducting its primary under INEC monitoring and forwarding the winner’s name to the electoral commission.
“The panel of the court held that the party, having duly conducted primaries which were monitored by INEC and the name of the winner forwarded to the commission, there was no legal impediment to the participation of the candidate in the election,” Ememobong said.
He added that the court held that the access code required for candidate uploads on INEC’s online portal was only an administrative requirement and could not override the statutory process of submitting a candidate’s name to the commission.
The PDP spokesman accused INEC of deliberately frustrating the Turaki-led faction, which he described as the legitimate leadership of the party.
Ememobong alleged that the commission monitored the primary that produced Adedamola but later refused to recognise him as the faction’s candidate and withheld the required access codes for uploading candidates.
He said the faction consequently approached the courts, leading to the Court of Appeal ruling in its favour and directing INEC to place the PDP logo on the ballot papers.
Despite welcoming the judgment, Ememobong lamented that the prolonged legal dispute had left the PDP candidate with little or no opportunity to campaign ahead of the election.
He said the faction would have been able to mount a stronger challenge if INEC had acted earlier.
Against this backdrop, the interim committee said it decided to support Adeleke after consultations with relevant stakeholders.
Ememobong said the decision was aimed at strengthening opposition politics and protecting multi-party democracy in the state.
“Faced with the unimaginable difficulty that the situation put on PDP, the INWC chose to throw its weight behind the Accord Party candidature, Gov. Ademola Adeleke,” he said.
He added that the decision followed “exhaustive consultations with key stakeholders” and urged PDP members loyal to the faction to vote for Adeleke.
The faction also called on its supporters to participate in the election peacefully, protect their ballots and ensure that their votes were properly counted.
Ememobong further appealed to political actors to reject violence and the pursuit of electoral victory at all costs.
He said elections should reflect the genuine choice of voters and warned against any attempt to undermine the will of the electorate.
“Elections must be a true reflection of the people’s wish, freely expressed through the ballot. Anything short of that is robbery and must not be allowed to stand,” he said.
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