Posted by By GABRIEL DIKE, Osogbo on
The Action Congress (AC) candidate in the April 14, 2007 governorship election in Osun State, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday asked the election petition tribunal sitting in Osogbo to stay action on the hearing of his petition, pending his appeal on his forensic expert.
The Action Congress (AC) candidate in the April 14, 2007 governorship election in Osun State, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola, on Tuesday asked the election petition tribunal sitting in Osogbo to stay action on the hearing of his petition, pending his appeal on his forensic expert.
But in a swift reactions, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola and the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), asked Aregbesola to be serious with his case instead of asking for frivolous adjournments.
Aregbesola's lawyer, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), informed the tribunal when his case was called for further hearing yesterday that his client had filed an application for a stay of further proceedings on the matter, pending the determination of his appeal against the decision of the tribunal barring his expert, Adrian Forty, from giving evidence in the case.
He also called the attention of the election petition tribunal to fix March 13, 2008 for the hearing of the application and thus urged the tribunal to adjourn the case till that date.
Counsel to Governor Oyinlola, Mallam Yusuf Alli (SAN), and those of the INEC and the police in their reactions urged the court to continue with the hearing as earlier fixed by the tribunal, saying that the hearing of the application next week should not affect the proceedings for this week.
In its ruling, the tribunal, through its chairman, Justice Thomas Naron, adjourned further hearing in the matter till March 13, 2008. Meanwhile, a statement issued by Mr. Lasisi Olagunju, chief press secretary to the governor, accused Aregbesola of foot-dragging on the matter, wondering why a petitioner would not want his case decided on time.
He then advised Aregbesola to withdraw his petition if he knew he had reached a dead-end, adding that all his attempts to intimidate the Court of Appeal using a section of the media would not work.
The state PDP Chairman, Alhaji Ademola Rasaq, in a separate statement noted that his party was aware of a meeting held on Monday in Lagos where a former governor of Lagos State vowed to use the press to intimidate and blackmail the tribunal in Osogbo and the Court of Appeal because of Aregbesola's petition.
He reminded the former governor and Aregbesola that justice would always go to the party that was worthy of it, stressing that, 'it will never go to blackmailers and rabble rousers."
The case of the AC governorship candidate in the last election in Osun State, Aregbesola suffered a major set back on February 13 as the election petition tribunal struck out his application to introduce a forensic expert as one of his witnesses.
The tribunal, in throwing out the application, said Aregbesola did not come with clean hands in the matter as he made false claims in his affidavit that the man, Adrian Forty conducted a forensic examination of election materials as ordered by the tribunal.
The five-man panel, in its unanimous decision read by its chairman, Justice Thomas Naron, declared that from available evidence before it, it was clear that the man never participated in the examination of the materials.