Biodun Oyebanji the governor-elect of Ekiti state has thanked the voters who gave him a resounding victory on Saturday.
In a post on Facebook, Oyebanji was taciturn in his appreciation.
He simply wrote: “Thank You Ekiti Kete”.
In addition, he posted his photo at Tuesday’s campaign rally in Ado-Ekiti, holding the broom.
Oyebanji, the anointed candidate of the outgoing governor, Kayode Fayemi, polled 187,057 votes to defeat his closest rival, Segun Oni of the Social Democratic Party, who polled 82,211 votes.
According to the statement, the APC has disgraced and embarrassed itself as a shameless party with no respect for constitutional democracy which President Muhammadu Buhari preaches.
Going by the provisions of Section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 signed by the President, the statement explained, the APC cannot just foist anybody on other contestants, not especially in the case where Machina contested the election and won whilst Lawan was busy chasing his presidential ambition which was met with preposterous defeat as he didn’t even come close to the first three in terms of votes cast by delegates.
The statement advised that APC must stop its illegalities and actions alien to decent democracy, stressing that there is nothing absolutely wrong with Lawan’s 24-year rubberstamp tenure in the National Assembly coming to an end in 2023.
The human rights lawyer expressed worry that it is this sit-tight syndrome that has destroyed democracy in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.
The statement encouraged Bashir Machina to seek legal redress to reclaim his rightful mandate from Lawan, assuring that Machina has a good case and should not give in to intimidation and oppression by the high and mighty who should be taught a lesson that illegalities won’t be tolerated going into the 2023 general elections.
