Ekiti 2022: APC’s candidate, Oyebanji, dares Oni, SDP over legal suit  

The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji, winner of the Saturday governorship election in Ekiti State, had dared Engr. Segun Oni, candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), to commence legal suit challenging the result of the governorship election in Ekiti State. He berated Oni for his habitual rejection of the election results in the state except he is declared the winner.

The Director-General of the Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji (BAO) Campaign Organisation, Cyril Fasuyi, had in a media interaction declared: “It is usual for Engineer Segun Oni and his team.

“When you see a man that has a habitual way of thinking that if it is not him, then it is nobody; then you won’t be shocked that a party that was defeated with over 100,000 votes … comes to say it rejects the result, it is amazing.

“There is nothing wrong, he is free to go anywhere. In court, there is this usual parlance that he who alleges must prove; so, we are waiting, they should bring out all the proof they have against us.”

Fasuyi was cited to have further stated: “I was the director-general of BAO campaign organisation; I have knowledge of everything that was done and there was nothing (to suggest vote-buying) in the entire budget of BAO campaign organisation.

“There was only one budget to which I was a party and there was no line called vote-buying. I was a principal actor from the beginning to the end.”

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared the APC candidate, Biodun Oyebanji, winner of the governorship election with a total of 187,057 votes,  while Oni trailed with 82,211 votes, and Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) had  67,457 votes.

Oni had on Sunday rejected the result of the governorship election, threatening to go to the election petition tribunal.

The media assistant to Oni, Moses Jolayemi, had revealed the rejection of the election result by Oni, raising allegations of vote buying and electoral malpractices by the ruling APC.

Jolayemi was said to have alleged that APC hired hoodlums for vote-buying and snatching of ballot boxes.

Fasuyi had, however, said that the APCand its candidate has no link with the persons arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for vote-buying during the election in Ekiti.