By Sunday Oguntuyi,Osogbo
A group within People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State, PDP Youth Alliance has called on well-meaning Nigerians to help save Osun judiciary from what it called the ‘impunity of the Adeleke dynasty.’
The group in a release issued and jointly signed by its leaders, Adegoke Abiodun (Apesin), Oladapo Babatunde (Omoga) and Bashorun Adekanola Abiodun at the weekend alleged the Adeleke dynasty of perverting justice through illegal means and so causing more havoc and disunity in the party.
“We are representatives of the silent majority in Osun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party. Findings from our recent survey on the happenings in the PDP coupled with our unflinching love for democracy and overall wellness of our great Party gave prominence to this significant gathering concerning the legal tussle between Hon. Olasoji Adagunodo and the Peoples Democratic Party as well as, Mr Sunday Bisi, Elder Sunday Akanfe Atidade, Prince Bola Ajao and a number of other supporters of Dr. Deji Adeleke,” the group said.
“It would be recalled that Hon. Adagunodo was asked to step aside as the party chairman on 30th of April, 2020 sequel to a petition written by three persons loyal to Senator Ademola Adeleke and forwarded to the National leadership of the Party”
“It is in the public domain that rather than investigating the claims of the petitioners, the national chairman of our party, PDP, Prince Uche Secondus sent a premeditated fact finding three man committee to Osun with an instruction that the matter would be referred to the National Disciplinary Committee yet to be set up to adjudicate on the said petition but till this moment, nothing of such happened”
“Contrary to the dictates of our Party and in reckless disregard for the truth and express provisions of the constitution of the Peoples Democratic Party and other extant laws and rules of engagement within the PDP, the National Disciplinary Committee was not put in place only for Hon Olasoji Adagunodo, the duly elected chairman to be, at first, asked to step aside and later suspended through a text message”
“Not done, the distractors of Hon. Adagunodo being sponsored by Dr. Deji Adeleke again came up with another allegation and in what looked like a political coup, slammed a Vote of No Confidence on him, again violating the mandatory one month maximum time allowed by the Constitution of the party for investigation against any officer of the party to be indicted or cleared, as the case may be”
“The so-called Vote of No Confidence which was also based on spurious allegations was not reviewed, neither was it investigated by a National Disciplinary Committee which the NEC leadership of the PDP, as a matter of duty, has the sole responsibility of setting up. In fairness, we wish to state that all due processes, according to the constitution of the party, were bracingly violated by the NWC as regards the lingering leadership crisis in the Osun State chapter of the Party”
“At this juncture, neutrality is connivance with evil. There is no middle ground. Therefore, we align with Robert F Kennedy’s position that “each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope.”
“On this note, we salute Hon. Adagunodo’s gallantry and unprecedented decorum in the phase of highest provocation. He has since been following due process and pursuing his case with class and truth. It is necessary to note that he explored all necessary timing and internal mechanism as stipulated in the party constitution before finally heading for court to contest his removal”
“Even Mr Sunday Bisi and his few supporters as well as Dr. Deji Adeleke who is heavily bankrolling them know that the National Working Committee of the party have no legal right to dabble into an issue involving a NEC member, they can only advise and refer such a case to them and without any authority to take decisions as they did without the consent of the NEC the way they had acted in Hon. Adagunodo’s case”
” They know that there is a serious lacuna and that the flawed processes leading to the removal of the elected chairman is a nullity and same would not stand if contested in the court of law. Hence, their deliberate attempts to waste the time of the court with series of injunctions and applications that have no bearing with the present stage of the case by engaging in premature appeals and petition against all judges handling the case including the Chief Judge of Osun State from inception”
“That is why Dr. Deji Adeleke and his people in the minority are desperately trying to build something on nothing and as of now, doing everything possible to stop the high court sitting in Osogbo from ruling on the case on July 29th, 2021”
“At this point, it appears ideal to tell the general public that the originating summon was filed before a High court sitting in Ikirun and presided over by Hon. Justice Jide Falola. We reliably gathered and can confirm that Hon. Justice Falola was petitioned against by some known supporters of Dr. Deji Adeleke, Prince Bola Ajao in particular, who asked him to recuse himself from the case when all attempts to buy him and derail the course of justice failed”
“The case was however reassigned to another High Court Judge sitting in Court 4, Osogbo Division and the court, having entertained all injunctions and arguments from the counsels and parties to the case, adjourned for rulings and judgment. It is worth noting that these same set of people, on the evidence of an affidavit deposed to by Prince Bola Ajao, dictated to Hon Chief Judge of Osun State, to transfer the case to a court sitting in Osogbo and she did just that. Now, they are complaining again after the case has been heard in their choice place – Osogbo and has been adjourned for rulings and judgement”
“Now, time has started to run for judgement to be delivered. Importantly, aside the fact that the CJ, having acceded to their previous recusal request and given the fact that they are estopped from seeking transfer to a third judge, if the case is transferred for the third time, will the case start de novo for the third time? Would the litigating public not perceive Osun State Judiciary under the highly respected Honourable Chief Judge of Osun State with negative opinion? This is a threat to the image of Osun State Judiciary. More so, the case has been heard, judgement is being awaited. And, delivery of judgements has time – bar, under the Constitution”
“We compassionately plead that the Judgement should be delivered as scheduled. Whoever is not satisfied can go on Appeal. The Judiciary should not be blackmailed or intimidated to pander to the wish of a particular party”
“Further more, we wish to place it on record that Mr Sunday Bisi and Dr. Deji Adeleke’s serial harassment of judges and their latest petition signed by one Diran Odeyemi and forwarded to the NJC against the current judge requesting the NJC to direct the CJ of Osun State to retrieve the case file and reassign it to another judge reeks of good reasoning and constitutes an abuse of the judiciary and if not checked, will weaken the judiciary institution in the state. We hold, therefore, that this development is not in the best interest of Osun and its people”
“We strongly believe that the recent petition to the NJC amounts to arrest of judgment. It suffice to state that the defendants had filed a Motion on Notice for stay of proceedings and a Notice of Appeal in which their amongst other reliefs were also asking the Court of Appeal to direct the CJ of Osun State to retrieve the case file and transfer same to another judge. We hereby call on the NJC to discountenance their ill-conceived petition calling for reassignment of the case and as well call on every concerned stakeholder in our Party and the State to check the excesses of Mr Sunday Bisi and Dr. Deji Adeleke, who are apparently living in false hopes that laws are spider webs through which the big flies pass and the little ones get caught. Finally, it should be noted that if the misery of the righteous is caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.”
