Biola Azeez
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for the Ilorin-West/Asa federal constituency in the February 25 general elections in Kwara, Alhaji Ibrahim Mohammed Ajia, has said that he is discontinuing the legal process instituted against the All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in the spirit of Ramadan fasting.
In a statement, titled, “RE: MY OFFER TO SERVE: TIME TO MOVE ON”, made available to journalists in Ilorin at the weekend, Alhaji Ajia said that the decision was 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”.
The PDP candidate, who said that he had reflected on one of the lessons of Ramadan, which he said is the spirit of forgiveness, added 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”.
Ajia said that he encountered limitations from both the tribunal panel and the INEC in the struggle to pursue the case, adding that, “there were clear signs of collusion between INEC, APC and perhaps other authorities we may not know”.
“It is unfortunate that the result declared by the INEC was neither the will nor expectations of our people. And in response to the wishes and desires of our people to reclaim the mandate they freely gave to us, we immediately rejected the result and assembled a team of lawyers to review the results and commence necessary legal actions.
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. Unfortunately, the panel members were nowhere to be found. It took eight days after we filed our case for the panel to arrive to grant us the ex-parte order.
Despite the delay in granting our order, INEC refused to obey the order, up till this moment. That has limited the capacity of our legal team to present a robust case towards reclaiming our mandate.
“But to keep the hope of our supporters alive, we filed our case despite many difficulties and challenges our legal team encountered in the process.
“We have had representations and expressions of deep concerns by many people about the apparent connivance between the APC and INEC and how that will impact the legal process. My immediate family has also expressed worries about the diminishing possibility of an impartial legal process and urged me to let it go.
“More importantly, as a firm 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
purportedly declared the winner 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 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 the Ilorin-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.
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