Otunba Olayinka Braimoh.

Richard Elesho

Otunba Olayinka Braimoh, the governorship candidate of the Action Alliance Party, AA, in the 2023 governorship election in Kogi State has disagreed with the Supreme Court pronouncement, upholding the positions of the lower courts (Tribunal and Appeal), which ruled in favour of Ahmed Ododo of the All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner of the election widely reported to have been mercilessly rigged.

While reacting to the supreme court judgement in statement by his Media Aide, Musa Yakubu, he said, “We received the news of the Supreme Court judgement today. Even though we accept, we do not agree with the judgement because we realised that we have a system that rewards bad behaviour.

“Well, the governor’s office is tenored while the poverty in the land is alarming, and I can as well say that, please, keep hope alive because the poverty is also tenored. Implementation of our wealth creation agenda will soon start, and we shall keep on supporting businesses and individuals as we have been doing to kick out poverty away from our land

“Let’s be focused, believing that sooner, we shall get out of this self-inflicted poverty. Thank you for the overwhelming support during the elections and throughout the period of the legal battle. I am honoured”.

Yakubu added that “Otunba Olayinka Braimoh came out for the first time to contest the governorship seat under the AA, and he campaigned vigorously with a wide grassroots mobilisation that touched all the political wards and units in the state. Going by the announcement of INEC, which declared Ododo the winner, Braimoh approached the Tribunal, Appeal, and finally the Supreme Court, challenging the electoral process, which had been widely reported to have been manipulated.

“Braimoh has given this a good fight, and posterity will forever reward him for his good intentions for the state that has been ravaged by unnecessary poverty.”