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The Action Congress (AC) has called for the disbandment of the Osun State election petition tribunal for its alleged bias against the party and for continuing to act under the influence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in the state.
The Action Congress (AC) has called for the disbandment of the Osun State election petition tribunal for its alleged bias against the party and for continuing to act under the influence of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government in the state.
In a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday by its National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party said it was compelled to issue the demand after weighing the series of inconsistent, biased and untenable rulings by the tribunal.
‘'For us in the AC, having to make this kind of demand is out of character, considering the high esteem in which we hold the judiciary and the accolades we have poured on this arm of the government for its recent string of outstanding judgements.
'But we are left with no option, after the tribunal refused to accept compelling expert forensic evidence in the petition of our gubernatorial candidate in Osun State. For us, this is the last straw after the tribunal has consistently shown bias towards the AC by, among others, admitting evidence from the PDP and rejecting same from the AC under similar circumstances,'' the party said.
AC said the issue of expert forensic evidence is so critical, not only to prove its case that the elections in Osun State were massively rigged, but also to help the Federal Government's efforts to reform the electoral process and end rigging once and for all.
'Ironically, it is election petition tribunal, which should be interested in the unassailable and compelling nature of forensic evidence that has now turned around to make a case for rejecting this on a mere technicality that the evidence was analysed outside the INEC office - even when the Supreme Court has warned against sacrificing justice on the altar of technicality.
'For the avoidance of doubt, the tribunal granted us leave to inspect, investigate and analyse the ballot papers in the office of INEC. In line with the common practice, however, we took samples which were then analysed abroad, due to the absence of such analytical facilities here.
'The findings, by a team of 53 world class forensic and finger print experts from the United Kingdom police, led by the world acclaimed Adrian Forty, were compelling and unassailable," it said.
as can be seen from the findings below:
'Over 40 per cent of the total votes cast in the April 14 governorship elections in Osun state were declared invalid on the ground of multiple voting. : 200,000 of the remaining 60 per cent were found to be the product of ballot stuffing and therefore also invalid.
'Another 88,000 votes rendered invalid by reason of split booklets.
'Apparently shocked by the weight of this compelling and unassailable evidence which would have automatically led to the nullification of the fraudlent victory of Oyinlola and return Eng rauf aregbesola as the lawfully elected governor of Osun
state, the tribunal, which all along has been doing the bidding of the PDP government in the state, then turned around to bar such evidence on absurd and
untenable grounds.
'Worse still, the tribunal's ruling has been predicted weeks ahead by the PDP publication in the state - Osun Mail - that no matter the weight of the evidence found by the forensic experts, it will not be admitted by the tribunal. We are baffled by this and we ask the National Judicial Commission to investigate it,'' AC said.
While calling on the Osun tribunal not to pull back the hand of the clock, after the country's judiciary has shown it can act fairly and without fear or favour on any issue whatsoever, the party nonetheless reiterates its resolve to ensure that this compelling and unassailable evidence of the forensic and finger print experts be given its day in court as it has appealed against this strange ruling.