Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain Sunday Menukuro, who is the Special Assistant to the Governor of Ondo State on Social Media and Communications, has said there is no legal hurdle or restriction against the proposed local government election.
The politician said what appears like a legal obstacle against the election has been resolved by the court.
He said the High Court and the Court of Appeal have validated the decision of Governor Olusegun Mimiko on the dissolution of the Local Government Councils hurriedly inaugurated by the preceding government.
Menukuro said: The plaintiff in this said matter, that is the PDP, which was the party that took the matter to the court ab initio, is now both the plaintiff and the defendant in the suit, which has made the matter to settle itself naturally with the collapse of the Labour Party into the state chapter into the PDP, by forming a mega party under the leadership of Dr. Olusegun Mimiko.
“Those tangentially affected in the suit, that is, the Local Government Chairmen and the councillors, who were said to have been elected on the platform of the PDP cannot proceed to any other political platform to prosecute their litigation other than the PDP that produced them in the first place.
“Now, what finally put paid to the lingering litigation was an amicable settlement of a win-win situation whereby the prayers of the plaintiffs were reviewed at the Supreme Court such that conciliatory measure will be put in place to compensate the aggrieved persons in a friendly family affair.
“This development therefore, culminated into the leeway ODIEC action to conduct the election is predicated. It could be recalled that Prof. Olugbenga Ige who is the chairman of ODIEC categorically affirmed this on the day he briefed all the political parties on ODIEC preparedness to conduct the said Local Government election in Ondo state.
“It is only those in the opposition, who are not prepared for the election, that would tell you that there is encumbrance. They are jittery about the great failure that is staring them in the face. hence, their clinging onto anything, like a drowning man, in order for their weaknesses not to be exposed to their leaders outside the state, whom they have been deceiving of their hyped phantom status, especially as the governorship election is at the corner.
“Do you know that by the time it is known to their party leaders that they don’t have anything to deliver here in the state, the expected patronage from that quarters will cease to come.
“Funny enough, at the time the main issue was still in the court, the singsong of these people was that Mimiko refused to conduct the local government election for quite a number of years into his government.
“This is to let you know that these opposition parties in Ondo state dont have tap roots in the state hence their fallacious campaign strategy ostensibly to whittle the influence of the ruling party in the state.
Menukuro added: “You should ask them why now that the election is to be conducted that they say they want to boycott it. Can you see their hypocrisy? Ask these people in the APC if they were the ones who went to the court at that time.
“Why is it that they are the ones making the only noise about the case in the court when they didn’t go to court for any reason.
Like their national chapter, the only thing they live on is deceit and outlandish distortion of facts.
“You can see all what they said during their campaigns and compare it with what they are doing now that they have won the election at the centre. They promised us one naira to one dollar among other things, we are all witnesses to their blatant lies which they are trying to replicate in Ondo State.”
The Nation