“With this outcome, our respect and reverence for the judiciary and our justices of the supreme court has not diminished.”
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate, Eyitayo Jegede SAN, has said he has accepted defeat at the Supreme Court after the apex court upheld the electoral victory of All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Governor Rotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State.
The Supreme Court had on Wednesday in a split decision of four-to-three, upheld the electoral victory of Akeredolu and dismissed the appeal brought before it by Jegede, candidate of the opposition party in the governorship election of October 10, 2020
A seven-man panel of justices of the Supreme Court heard the appeal.
While the majority judgment that affirmed Akeredolu’s victory was delivered by Justice Emmanuel Agim, the dissenting minority verdict that upheld Jegede’s appeal was delivered by Justice Mary Peter-Odili, who was the head of the panel.
The apex court, in its majority verdict, said it found no reason to set aside the concurrent judgements of both the Court of Appeal and the Ondo State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal, which earlier dismissed Jegede and PDP’s case for being incompetent.
Jegede and his party, PDP, had approached the apex court to void July 16, 2021, judgement of the Court of Appeal in Akure, which validated Akeredolu’s election.
In his reaction to the loss at the Supreme Court, the PDP candidate said he has accepted defeat.
Jegede, in a statement, said: “Now that we have explored the grievance procedure permitted by the constitution and the law, it is time to give glory to God.
“The outcome of the judgement should not deter good and well-meaning individuals from aspiring for leadership in our state and our country. For all our people who have stood strong, we salute you.
“With this outcome, our respect and reverence for the judiciary and our justices of the supreme court has not diminished. I congratulate Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN.”
Also, the Ondo State PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Kennedy Peretei, in a statement, said: “The PDP in Ondo State and its candidate have accepted the verdict of the Supreme Court being the apex court in the land.
“Our party wishes to encourage all our party supporters to remain steadfast and be consoled that, we fought a good fight, from the beginning to the end.”
