By Sunday Oguntuyi, Osogbo
As the parties in Osun governorship election petition tribunal await final judgement by the panel, there were accusation and counter accusation from the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and All Progressives Congress (APC) over alleged efforts to compromise the judgement.
The PDP accused the former Governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola of planning to influence the tribunal decision in his favour, warning against anti-democratic actions that may threaten the peace of Osun state.
In a strongly worded statement issued on Tuesday, the Osun State Caretaker Chairman of the party, Dr Adekunle Akindele disclosed that credible information revealed that the former Governor is struggling to schedule a secret meeting with the members of the tribunal for this Friday at a closely guarded location.
According to him, “the goal of the meeting is to convince the panel members to sway their ruling in favour of the petitioners. The plan is however meeting a brick wall as the judges are reported to have shut the doors against any such meeting, being incorruptible officers of law with hard earned reputation and years of unblemished service”
” Information at our disposal confirms the evil plot to corrupt and hijack the Tribunal outcome. The plot has reached an advanced stage. The former Governor is running around to get the judges to agree to a meeting for this Friday. But he will not succeed because the judges will not agree to such a meeting. Panel members are men of integrity and good conscience.
” We want to affirm the trust of PDP and Governor Ademola Adeleke in the integrity and incorruptibility of the members of the panel and the Nigerian judiciary as a whole. We know the panel members, their antecedents and their high sense of equity and fairness. We have no doubt the panel will not succumb to the evil scheming of those who detest democracy and are desperate to upturn the will of the people.
“The PDP seeks to warn that 2022 is not 2018 and any attempt to tamper with the will of the people will be lawfully resisted by our people. The scam of 2018 cannot resurface in 2022 as the judiciary has assumed a new toga as a defender of democracy. Mr Oyetola is hereby advised to be prepared for another failure in his bid to corrupt the judiciary as panel members are clearly and openly not for sale.
” The planned Friday meeting will flop as we are convinced that an empty room will be the lot of Mr Oyetola and his gang of election deniers on Friday. The Nigerian judiciary of 2022 is populated by judges and officials who are in love with democracy, rule of law and good governance even as they are averse to haters of democracy and sadists seeking state power against the will of the people.
” The just concluded Tribunal sittings clearly established the validity of the election of Governor Ademola Adeleke. The petitioner failed to prove over-voting or certificate forgery which are the two grounds of the petition. The final addresses also proved to the whole world that overwhelming evidence exists for the Tribunal to dismiss the petition, validate the election of Governor Adeleke as.duly elected and award cost against the petitioner.
” At this critical point, we reaffirm our faith in the judiciary to rule in support of the people and against anti- democratic forces who stole an electoral mandate in 2018 and are delusionally hoping to repeat the same evil feat in 2022. Governor Adeleke is holding a popular mandate in trust for the people of Osun state. Validating his election is the greatest expectation of Osun people and a conformity with facts of law and evidence at the Tribunal”, the statement concluded
However, the state chapter of the APC has expressed a surprise at the “low reasoning and level of demonstrated administrative ineptitude of those saddled with the leadership of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for it to be prioritizing diatribes, harangues and tirades in running the affairs of their party and the government.”
Reacting to what it called “a conjecture by the state chapter of the PDP” where it was alleged that the immediate-past Governor Gboyega Oyetola has been running after the justices to influence the outcome of his petition at the governorship election tribunal in Osogbo, the state Acting Chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, said it was a pity that some disgruntled elements could choose to feed the members of the public with fallacy.
The statement noted that, “Lawal stated that the Osun PDP handlers are only trying to be clever by half by rolling out absolute falsehood in order to justify the imminent failure awaiting them at the tribunal.
“He tutored the obviously confused, directionless and focusless burdened government of Adeleke and his ineptitude party that Oyetola needs not press any botton for his victory in all ramifications as it has not been his stock in trade which he could not now copy at his age.”
The Acting State APC Chairman hinted that Oyetola “could be likened to a metaphorical brilliant student who is always burning his candles at both ends before, during and after any examination and not in the league of those who wrote the NECO examinations three years before the establishment of the examination body itself.
“The members of the public are implored to disregard the mere composition rolled out by the PDP about corner cutting by Oyetola concerning the tribunal as it’s absolute falsehood and a figment of the imagination of those who put it together.
The party noted that its case before the tribunal is watertight and details of which are already known to the Nigerian public and as such they have notreason to panic or fear.
Lawal disclosed that “only about a month ago, the social media was awash with stories of how a contact committee was set up by the PDP to go after the tribunal justices.
“We hope they are not trying to accuse us of what they did only because the project failed?
“Any discerning Nigerian will immediately know that Governor Ademola Adeleke has a terribly bad case before the tribunal, as it is a common knowledge in Ede that he had issues with his certificate. No matter how hard he tries, there are people who are still alive who know his story.
“Again, the issue of overvoting is unassailable. We were able to prove our case on these two grounds before the Tribunal and we are confident that the outcome will favour us.”
