Posted by By GABRIEL DIKE, Osogbo on
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State has accused the Action Congress (AC) of planning to cause crisis in the state by using the media to blackmail the Court of Appeal.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun State has accused the Action Congress (AC) of planning to cause crisis in the state by using the media to blackmail the Court of Appeal.
A statement signed by Osun State PDP Secretary, Mr Yinka Adeojo, accused the AC of using a section of the media to wage a psychological war on the judiciary, particularly the election petition tribunal and the Court of Appeal.
The statement reads in part: 'The mouth piece of the AC, The Nation newspaper, published an editorial on Friday attacking the election tribunal in Osogbo and advising the Court of Appeal to 'demonstrate" what it called 'better wisdom" in determining all cases the AC had before it.
'It is our view that the political class should leave the judiciary to do its work. No political party should think it has a monopoly of anything including wisdom. We see in that unsolicited advice a veiled threat to also descend on that court if its verdicts are at variance with the expectations of the AC. As a law abiding political party, we reaffirm our faith in the judicial process and have been taking all rulings that come our way in that light. We have gone on appeal where necessary without attacking the integrity of the judiciary. We expect all others who profess democratic tenets to also do same.
'We also call on law enforcement agencies to be at alert as information at our disposal points at plans by the AC to foment trouble in Osun State because its house of cards has crumbled."
The exchange of verbal brick bats between both camps continued at the weekend over last Monday's ruling by the tribunal against the AC gubernatorial candidate, Mr Rauf Aregbesola.
Mr Jumoke Ogunkeyede, spokesperson for Aregbesola in a reaction to accusations of perjury levelled by the PDP against the AC on Saturday said his party never claimed that it took any ballot paper abroad for analysis and accused the PDP of misleading the public on the matter.
'Nothing in any of our claims, statements or papers even remotely insinuated that there was such physical examination of the relevant materials outside of the offices of the Independent Electoral Commission, (INEC) in Osun State. What we claimed, and what is true, is that these documents were scanned by a certified and qualified agent of Mr. Adrian Forty, the UK-based expert.
The Nigerian based qualified agent, Mr. Tunde Yeleka, who coordinated the electronic scanning, then sent what came out of the process of scanning to the United Kingdom for examination and analysis," the AC said.
The Chief Press Secretary to Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, Mr Lasisi Olagunju in a swift reaction expressed surprise at what he called the sudden U-turn by the AC on the matter even after it admitted just on Friday that it took samples of ballot papers abroad for analysis.
Olagunju said: 'AC spokesman, Mr Lai Mohammed, in his Thursday statement used by newspapers on Friday said: ‘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 common practice, however, we took samples which were then analysed abroad due to the absence of such analytical facilities here…' "
'In the light of Lai Mohammed's statement quoted above, we want the AC and Aregbesola to explain what they meant by 'samples" if they are now saying no ballot paper was taken abroad for analysis.
On the ruling, the PDP asked the AC why it did not file Adrian Forty's affidavit with the petition as prescribed by law, why their lawyer claimed on oath that he 'was physically present" during the inspection when he was not and why Aregbesola had to disobey the court which specifically said the inspection/analysis should be done in the premises of INEC in Osogbo.
The ruling party advised the AC leaders to be consistent even now that they are so desperately looking for straws to hang on to while again urging them to go to the court of appeal instead of making noise.