Had Ladi Adebutu, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2023 governorship election in Ogun State, emerged as the winner, it would have been a sad and devastating period for the state, his running-mate, Adekunle Akinlade, said on Saturday.
Adebutu and Akinlade ran on a joint ticket in the March 18, 2023 election, but lost to the incumbent, Governor Dapo Abiodun, who was candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Not satisfied with the result declared by the electoral body, the PDP candidate dragged Abiodun to the tribunal, but lost the legal battle up to the Supreme Court.
Daily Trust reports that shortly after the apex court laid the 2023 election’s legal battle to rest, Adebutu and his running-mate fell apart.
Speaking to newsmen in Abeokuta, Akinlade described Adebutu’s defeat in the controversial election as a “calamity averted” on the people of the state.
In his address tagged “Divine Power of Prayers That Averts Calamity,” Akinlade narrated how an imam had prayed for the PDP campaign team that God should not grant the opposition party a victory in 2023 if it would bring sorrow and backwardness to the state.
“We all said ‘Aameena’”, Akinlade, who was the candidate of the Allied People’s Movement (APM) in 2019 governorship, said in the scathing address.
He said, “In hindsight, I say, Alhamdulillahi that Allah averted that calamity from befalling Ogun State. Had Ladi emerged as the winner, it would have been a sad and devastating time for us as a people.
“In His glory and majesty, Allah grants a woman the grace to conceive keeps her in good health all through the nine months, sets His face upon her to deliver the child, then takes the infant’s life a minute after.
“As mortals, we will cry with anguish and ask what sin did the child commit to deserve such? We forget that He that gives, takes for a purpose.”
Peoplesmind
