Reps Election: Ibrahim Ajia Asks Legal Team To File Notice Of Discontinuance, Cites ‘Uncooperative Attitude’ Of INEC, Tribunal Members
Matters concerning the 2023 llorin West/Asa House of Representatives election in Kwara state came to a natural end on Friday following the disclosure made by Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed Ajia, who was the PDP candidate in the election in question.
Alhaji Ajia in a statement made available to which was titled ‘RE: MY OFFER TO SERVE: TIME TO MOVE ON’ disclosed that he had since asked his legal team to file a notice of discontinuance citing uncooperative attitude on the part of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials and members of the Election Petition Tribunal.
He noted that this decision was taken not because ‘we are expecting any consideration or gain from our opponent or his party but for the sake of God Almighty, the progress of our Constituency and our state’.
Ajia, who was the PDP candidate in the House of Representatives election held on February 25, added that he had also reflected on one of the lessons of Ramadan ‘the spirit of forgiveness’, adding that, ‘this is the Holy month of Ramadan and I wish to discontinue the legal process we have instituted at the tribunal, against our opponent, APC and INEC’.
He has also accused members of the election petition tribunal and the INEC of being uncooperative alleging that, ‘there were clear signs that INEC worked in collusion with the APC and perhaps other authorities that we may not know’.
‘But to keep the hope of our supporters alive, we had filed our case inspite of many difficulties and challenges our legal team encountered in the process.
After we briefed our lawyers, they filed an ex-parte motion for an order to compel INEC to allow us access to the electoral materials including the BVAS report.
Despite the delay in granting our order, INEC refused to obey the order, up till this moment. This has limited the capacity of our legal team to present a robust case towards reclaiming our mandate.
We have had representations and expressions of deep concerns by a lot of people about the apparent connivance between the APC and INEC and how this will impact the legal process. My immediate family has also expressed concern about the diminishing possibility of an impartial legal process and urged me to let it go.
More importantly, as a strong believer and a true Muslim, I believe that it is the Almighty Allah that gives power and to whom He wishes at the appointed time.
As a progressive politician, my utmost desire is for our people to be served and represented effectively. I, therefore, wouldn’t want to create excuses for the
person purportedly declared winner of the election by INEC that he was distracted by the legal contest when he fails.
However, we will not be deterred by this temporary setback in pursuing our set goals of making life more meaningful for our people. This, we will continue to do through our Foundation and other engagements with various organizations and institutions we have contacts with.
We will hold the government at all levels accountable to ensure that our people are not shortchanged in any way.
Once again, I thank most sincerely, the good people of llorin West/Asa Federal constituency for the support we enjoyed throughout the campaigns. I will never let you down, I promise.
I thank the leader of our great party in Kwara State, Senator Bukola Saraki, for all his mentorship and support throughout our campaign’ the statement added- Team@orientactualmags.com
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