The Tanimu Turaki-led faction of Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has declared its support for Gov. Ademola Adeleke of Accord in the Saturday governorship election in Osun.
Mr Ini Ememobong, National Publicity Secretary, PDP Interim National Working Committee, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday in Abuja.
The News Agency of Nigeria NAN reports that Ememobong was reacting to the Court of Appeal judgment on the party’s candidate in the governorship election.
He commended the judgment which upheld the nomination of Adebayo Adedamola as the party’s candidate for the election in the state.
Ememobong said that the party’s lawyers had informed the INWC that the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja on Thursday upheld the nomination of Adedamola, as submitted by the Turaki-led faction.
He also noted that the court directed Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately include the party’s logo on the ballot for the election.
“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.
“Specifically, it held that the access code for nomination on the portal was a mere administrative formality which cannot override the statutory provision of forwarding names to the commission, which PDP had done,” he said.
Ememobong said that the judgment confirmed what he described as bias and unceasing opposition by INEC against the the Turaki-led INWC which, according to him, is the legitimate leadership of the party.
“The primaries that produced our candidate was peaceful, transparent, and the result uncontested.
“It was duly monitored by INEC, but the commission blatantly refused to recognise our candidate thereafter and withheld the codes for the upload of candidates from us.
