Those protesting over Osun gov poll are mentally unstable – Gov Aregbesola

Outgoing Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola has described as mentally unstable those who openly protested in Abuja the recent declaration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate and Governor elect, Mr Isiaka Oyetola, as the winner of the recent gubernatorial poll in the state.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had announced Oyetola as governor-elect after a supplementary election in which he defeated the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Ademola Adeleke by 482 votes.

The PDP National Chairman, Uche Secondus, on Friday morning led some party chieftains on a protest at the INEC headquarters in Abuja.

At the protest were Senate President, Bukola Saraki; Sokoto State governor, Aminu Tambuwal; Ekiti governor, Ayodele Fayose; another presidential aspirant, Sule Lamido; and others.

But Aregbesola, who brought Oyetola to visit President Muhammadu Buhari at the Aso Rock Villa, shortly after the protests, said it was irresponsible of those who participated in the protests to do so, knowing that the outcome of the election is currently been contested before Election Petitions Tribunal.

Besides that, the governor who was accompanied by his Kano State counterpart and chairman of the APC Osun governorship campaign council chairman, Umar Ganduje, said that Oyetola won the election convincingly.

Aregbesola said, “I will not even respond to this because what you are referring to is a charade, an act of gross irresponsibility from people who ought to know that after an election, the only option left for every responsible citizen is to go to the tribunal.

“And again interestingly, the other party, the party that was defeated in the election is already in tribunal. I don’t now know what the protest you are talking about is meant to do.

If you are already in court and you are still doing a street protest either you are not mentally stable or you need psychiatric attention.

“That said, let me tell you why we are here in addition to what the governor of Kano who was the chairman of the gubernatorial council on the election in my state has said.

We came with the chairman of the party in the state and the deputy governor elect as well as the national chairman of the party to express our gratitude to the President.

Ganduje in his remarks, also insisted that Oyetola won the Osun poll”overwhelmingly”.

“We came to thank the President of Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari for providing the enabling environment for a true fair election in Osun State.

“We are here in order to present our Governor-elect to Mr. President and to thank him in what he has done in order to allow for free and fair election.”

On how he intends to address the issue of backlogs of salaries, the governor -elect said, “It is a continuous thing, we have actually been addressing that, recently we have paid about four months of salary backlog and I believe we will settle all the outstanding .

“We have started even paying full salary and I believe we will be able to sustain it by the grace of God. We will review our IGR to ensure that we are able to look inward for sustainability.”