Aiyedatiwa faults court docket ruling barring him from searching for one other time period

Ondo State Governor, Fortunate Aiyedatiwa, has criticised the ruling of a Federal Excessive Courtroom in Akure restraining him from searching for one other time period in workplace, describing the choice as untimely and a distraction from governance.

Aiyedatiwa spoke on Thursday throughout an look on Channels Tv’s Politics In the present day programme.

The governor stated discussions concerning the 2028 off-cycle governorship election had been pointless at this stage, noting that he had solely just lately secured a contemporary mandate from voters within the state.

“That is too early. Why don’t you wait until 2027 or when the off-cycle timetable might be out in early 2028? Possibly at the moment, I’d start to assume, wait a minute, do I’ve the proper to contest or not?

“At the moment, one can start to hunt interpretation of a few of these clauses within the structure,” he stated.

Aiyedatiwa stated his focus remained on delivering the mandate given to him within the November 16, 2024 governorship election.

“I went right into a free and truthful, conclusive election, which I gained on the sixteenth of November 2024, so it’s nonetheless contemporary. I’ve by no means thought of every other election apart from delivering on the mandate that has been given to me.

“Future elections weren’t in my thoughts in any respect as a result of you need to go step-by-step, stage by stage,” he said.

The governor added that though he was conscious of the constitutional provision limiting a governor’s tenure to eight years, he had not begun contemplating the way it would possibly apply to him.

“I do know the constitutional provision of eight years, however I’ve not even gone into that as a result of I simply gained an election. All I used to be occupied with was to control and ship the dividends of democracy to the individuals till anyone awoke and commenced to problem it,” he stated.

He additionally described the swimsuit as a distraction following the political challenges he had confronted.

“You ask how I really feel. I really feel the identical means. This distraction might be put to relaxation as a result of it’s a complete lot of distraction for me, having gone by means of election and survived impeachment,” he added.

Responding to insinuations surrounding the swimsuit, Aiyedatiwa dismissed claims that he was engaged in a political witch-hunt or forcing members out of the All Progressives Congress.

In line with him, the occasion stays dominant in Ondo State, including that politics is in the end “a recreation of numbers.”

Earlier on Thursday, a Federal Excessive Courtroom sitting in Akure dominated that the governor could be ineligible to contest for an additional time period in workplace in 2028.

The swimsuit was filed by a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress within the state, Akin Egbuwalo, who requested the court docket to interpret Part 137(3) of the Structure relating to the eligibility of Aiyedatiwa and his deputy, Olayide Adelami, to contest for an additional time period.

The defendants within the swimsuit included the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee, the Lawyer-Normal of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Aiyedatiwa, Adelami and the APC.

In a judgment delivered by Justice Toyin Adegoke, the court docket held that Aiyedatiwa could be ineligible to face for election in 2028, having been sworn in on December 27, 2023, to finish the tenure of the late governor, Rotimi Akeredolu, and subsequently inaugurated on February 24, 2025, after successful the November 16, 2024, governorship election.

The decide declared that the 1999 Structure (as amended) doesn’t allow an elected president, vice-president, governor or deputy governor to spend greater than eight years in workplace.

The court docket relied on the choice of the Supreme Courtroom of Nigeria in Marwa v. Nyako.