Osun Tribunal: PDP, APC trade words over alleged plan to influence judgement

…Oyetola plotting secret meeting with tribunal judges — PDP

…It is low level reasoning — APC

…Says PDP feeding members of  public with fallacy

By Ismail Azeez, Osogbo

The All Progressives Congress (APC) and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) on Tuesday engaged in a war of words over allegations to influence tribunal judgement on the 2022 gubernatorial election in Osun State.

It would be recalled that after the admission of the written addresses of all  the parties involved in the mater, the Osun Election Petition Tribunal, led by Justice Tetsea Kume, had on Friday reserved the judgement to a later date which he said would be communicated to the parties’ counsels.

However, the PDP has accused the immediate past Governor of the State, Gboyega Oyetola of a devilish plan  to influence the outcome of the governorship tribunal in his favour, warning against anti-democratic actions that may threaten the peace of Osun State.

The PDP reminded the former governor that he should remember that Appeal Court President had warned tribunal justices not to compromise on any election petition before them, saying any one caught to have compromised will face the consequence.

A statement issued on Tuesday by  the Osun State Caretaker Chairman of the Party, Dr Adekunle Akindele alleged that credible information revealed that the former Governor is struggling to schedule a secret meeting with the members of the Tribunal for this Friday at a closely guarded location.

He said, “Information at our disposal confirms the evil plot to corrupt and hijack the Tribunal outcome. The plot has reached an advanced stage. The former Governor is running around to get the judges to agree to a meeting for this Friday. But he will not succeed because the judges will not agree to such a meeting. Panel members are men of integrity and good conscience.

“We want to affirm the trust of PDP and Governor Ademola Adeleke in the integrity and incorruptibility of the members of the panel and the Nigerian judiciary as a whole. We know the panel members, their antecedents and their high sense of equity and fairness. We have no doubt the panel will not succumb to the evil scheming of those who detest democracy and are desperate to upturn the will of the people.

“The PDP seeks to warn that 2022 is not 2018 and any attempt to tamper with the will of the people will be lawfully resisted by our people. The scam of 2018 cannot resurface in 2022 as the judiciary has assumed a new toga as a defender of democracy. Mr Oyetola is hereby advised to be prepared for another failure in his bid to corrupt the judiciary as panel members are clearly and openly not for sale,” the statement read further.

However, the Osun State chapter of the APC while reacting expressed a surprise at what it described as “the low reasoning and level of demonstrated administrative ineptitude of those saddled with the leadership of the state chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for it to be prioritising diatribes, harangues and tirades in running the affairs of their party and the government.”

The state Acting Chairman of the APC, Sooko Tajudeen Lawal, while reacting to the allegations said it was a pity that some disgruntled elements could choose to feed the members of the public with fallacy.

Lawal stated that the Osun PDP handlers are only trying to be clever by half by rolling out absolute falsehood in order to justify the imminent failure awaiting them at the tribunal.

He said that Oyetola “need not press any button for his victory in all ramifications as it has not been his stock in trade which he could not now copy at his age.”

The Acting State APC Chairman said that “Oyetola could be likened to a metaphorical brilliant student who is always burning his candles at both ends before, during and after any examination and not in the league of those who wrote the NECO examinations three years before the establishment of the examination body itself.

“The members of the public are implored to disregard the mere composition rolled out by the PDP about corner cutting by Oyetola concerning the tribunal as it’s absolute falsehood and a figment of the imagination of those who put it together,” APC said.