Civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, (HURIWA), on Saturday asked the candidates who lost the March 18 governorship election in Enugu State to stop legal and verbal wars and support the governor-elect, Peter Mbah, who was duly elected and declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, in the same vein urged former Governor Gboyega Oyetola to sheathe his legal swords and embrace Senator Ademola Adeleke as the duly elected governor in Osun State as ruled by the Appeal Court in Abuja on Friday.
In last Saturday’s poll, Peter Mbah of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 160,895 votes slightly above his closest rivals — Chijioke Edeoga of the Labour Party (LP) who scored 157,552; Uche Nnaji of the All Progressives Congress (APC) who got 14,575 votes; and Frank Nweke (Jr) of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) who got 17,983 votes.
Nweke, Edeoga and Nnaji have since faulted the emergence of Mbah as Enugu Gov-Elect and threatened to challenge the victory of the PDP candidate in court.
However, HURIWA’s Onwubiko said, “While it is within the constitutional rights of Chijioke Edeoga, Frank Nweke (Jr) to go to court, we urge them to sheathe their swords, give peace a chance and support the young governor to settle down to work because the election met all thresholds of transparency, accountability, competitiveness and credibility. Any litigation at this time is a pure distraction and detrimental to delivering good governance to the people of Enugu State.”
“Similarly, former governor Gboyega Oyetola should stop his legal voyage of discovery and let Governor Ademola Adeleke concentrate to deliver good governance to the good people of Osun State. After all, the office is sacrificial and is meant to deliver social, economic, sustainable development and aggressive industrialisation to Osun and create enabling environment for economic growth.
“He needs to know that the TECHNICAL KNOCKOUT he suffered at the Court of Appeal is a warning sign that his legal action is frivolous, vexatios and is a total distraction.”.
