Posted by By AUGUSTINE AVWODE on
Ahead of Tuesday ruling of the Osun Election Petition Tribunal, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola has lashed out at the Action Congress (AC) and its governorship candidate in the last election in Osun State, Engineer Rauf Aregbesola, describing them as a people to be pitied.
Ahead of Tuesday ruling of the Osun Election Petition Tribunal, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola has lashed out at the Action Congress (AC) and its governorship candidate in the last election in Osun State, Engineer Rauf Aregbesola, describing them as a people to be pitied.
Oyinlola, in a statement issued by his Special Adviser (Media) and Chief Press Secretary, Lasisi Olagunju, said events of the last one week, especially on allegations of The News magazine, showed the desperation of the AC.
Regardless of which direction the judicial pendulum swings, Aregbesola has vowed not to accept the ruling.
Olagunju said: 'We note in particular that their lawyer wrote the MTN warning that the call logs should not be doctored. That warning from the AC was a clear admission that logs could be tampered with and that they (the AC) knew how to doctor telephone call logs. We are following every step being taken by these desperate people and we are resolute in our determination that the rule of law must triumph over political arbitrariness.
'We have it on good authority that the game plan was hatched a long time ago to launch an attack on the process they themselves initiated if they no longer feel comfortable. But we still wonder why the petitioner in a case would not want to take judgment. Are they privy to the content of the judgment?
'These people spent eight months arguing their case which they opened on October 3, 2007 and closed on 15th May, 2008. Yet, despite this rather prolonged hearing with 102 witnesses and 169 exhibits, they had to come back a month after the whole case had been closed to beg that they forgot to tender election results.
'In those eight months, they did not complain against the conduct of our lawyers and the tribunal. Now, with the judgment being just a few days away, they switched to their option B by deploying the media arm of their political machine to attempt a media coup on the judiciary, which has failed woefully. We hope they know the full legal implications of what they had done and at the appropriate time, they will face the music.
'We want to ask them what offences we have committed in watching the AC with amusement as they refused to tender election results and elected not to call a single polling agent or voter as a witness? Where is our crime when the petitioners on their own ignored the rules set for presenting cases in an election tribunal? Who is to blame when on their own they decided not to make even Aregbesola a witness in his own case? We simply see them as comedians and a set of people who don't know what they actually want."
Aregbesola told a crowded press conference in Lagos yesterday that: 'I must say this with all the seriousness and solemnity at my disposal. Even in the event of the Naron Tribunal ruling in our favour, we will reject any judgment that purportedly comes from this heavily compromised panel. We are wholly committed to the noble principle of justice: justice for the offender, justice for the offended and justice for the society. That is the only way our young and struggling society can be nourished to be strong and vibrant," he declared.
However, Aregbesola added a caveat: 'Any incorruptible and uncompromised tribunal is bound to give us justice anytime, any day."
He predicated his decision on the controversies that have continued to trail the tribunal's proceedings.
Last week, a national news magazine reported that the Justice Thomas Naron led tribunal might have been compromised. It detailed communications between the judge and the lead defence counsel, Kunle Kalejaiye SAN.
The legal practitioner and his client, Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, have denied the publication, threatening to sue whoever continues to impugn their character.