SUPREME COURT HAS VINDICATED US--OYINLOLA

Osun State Governor, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola has hailed the decision of the Supreme Court which affirmed that all motions moved outside the pre-hearing sessions of election tribunals are null and void.

The Governor, who was reacting to the judgment of the Supreme Court delivered on Friday in which the apex court dismissed an appeal brought against the election of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua by the African Liberation Party (ALP) on the ground that it was a contravention of the tribunal’s Practice Directions.

Governor Oyinlola, in a statement  issued by his Special Adviser and Chief Press Secretary, Lasisi Olagunju, said that he hoped the opposition Action Congress would by now see why all its attempts to circumvent the law through frivolous Motions on Notice like the one on Adrian Forty could not find favour with the law.

The Governor commended his legal team led by Mallam Yusuf Alli, SAN, Kunle Kalejaye, SAN and Nathaniel Oke, SAN for sound advocacy which has consistently assisted in proper dispensation of justice despite several uninformed media attacks on their positions.

The Supreme Court in the unanimous judgment read by Justice Tanko Muhammed declared that the Practice Direction was very clear in its provision which stipulates that no motion shall be moved except during the pre-hearing session.

While it held that the trial tribunal lacked competence and had no jurisdiction to hear the motion on notice brought by the petitioner and the preliminary objection filed by the respondents, the Supreme Court consequently nullified the entire proceedings and the ruling being appealed against.

The apex court also dismissed the  petition before the lower court because it was not accompanied by statements of the petitioners witnesses and a list of documents relied on.

It will be recalled that two of the grounds which informed the decision of the Election tribunal in Osogbo dismissing the motions brought by Mr. Rauf Aregbesola of the AC seeking to call his experts, Adrian Forty and Tunde Yadeka was that the Practice Direction forbade such motions outside the pre-hearing session and that the witness statements of the two were not filed with Aregbesola’s petition.

Lasisi Olagunju

Special Adviser (Media) and Chief Press Secretary to the Governor.  

10th May,2008.