The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its Osun State Governor- elect, Senator Ademola Adeleke have hired the services of no fewer than eight Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and 45 lawyers to defend them at the Election Petitions Tribunal in Osogbo.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate in the July 16 governorship election, Governor Gboyega Oyetola, who are challenging Adeleke’s victory at the polls, are contesting the results in 749 polling units out of 3,763, alleging over-voting and other manipulations.
It was gathered that the PDP and its candidate have lined up legal luminaries and senior lawyers, including Alex Izinyon, Onyechi Ikpeazu, Nathaniel Oke, Kehinde Ogunwumiju and Paul Ananaba.
The Deputy Director of the Adeleke Campaign Council, Kolapo Alimi, said that the PDP had assembled a legal team to “trash” Oyetola’s petition which he described as a waste of the precious time of the judiciary.
The PDP, through its acting chairman in Osun state, Adekunle Akindele, on Tuesday submitted its defence to Oyetola’s petition, praying the tribunal to dismiss it on the grounds that it is frivolous and baseless.
Akindele told the tribunal that Adeleke convincingly won the election and was duly declared the winner. He denied that there was over-voting in any of the polling units being challenged by the petitioners. The PDP insisted that the exercise was conducted in compliance with the Electoral Act 2022. Akindele also insisted that Adeleke fulfilled all qualification criteria and conditions to run for the election.
