Member’s Illness Stalls Osun Tribunal Sitting

The Osun State Election Petition Tribunal could not sit yesterday as one of its members fell ill.
The attorneys were already seated when the court clerk announced that the tribunal would no longer sit as a member of the panel was ill.
The tribunal, at its last sitting, had fixed yesterday to rule on an application by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its governorship candidate, Senator Iyiola Omisore.
But the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, argued that the objection must be heard at the pre-hearing stage in accordance with the law.
Aregbesola’s counsel Akin Olujinmi (SAN) said yesterday that the petition against the August 9 governorship election would not scale through the pre-hearing stage if the preliminary objections were taken.
He was reacting to the comment of the PDP’s deputy governorship candidate, Adejare Bello, who said his party would go as far as the Supreme Court.
In an interview with reporters, Bello said it was only the Supreme Court that had the final say on whether or not Aregbesola won the election.
Olunjinmi said Bello’s comment has shown that the petitioners knew the weakness of their petition.
He said: “Saying that they want to go to Supreme Court shows that they know the weakness of their case, because I expect them to say at the beginning that they are very sure of their case.
“That would be decided at the hearing, if we go to hearing, because if the objections are taken, I do not see the petition seeing the light of the day and that is why they are afraid of having the objections taken now.”
THE NATION