TRIBUNAL UPDATE: Omisore Closes Case As Aregbesola Opens Defence Today

Governor of Osun State, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, will Monday open his defence against the petition of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging his re-election before the state Election Petition Tribunal.
A member of Aregbesola’s legal team, Mr. Kunle Adegoke, said the team has more than enough convincing evidence to defend the petition and show that his client won the election fairly, smoothly and squarely.
Iyiola Omisore of the PDP is challenging the August 9 re-election of Aregbesola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) before the Justice Elizabeth Ikpejime-led tribunal, while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is joined as the third respondent.
In proving his case before the tribunal, the petitioners called only 43 out of the over 500 witnesses they listed to testify in their favour before the tribunal.
Two of the witnesses called by petitioners, Samuel Oduntan and Pius Bakare, who claimed to be expert witnesses admitted faults in the purported analyses they carried out on the election materials for the petitioners to prove their case.
All other witnesses of the petitioners also told the court that they voted on the election day for the party of their choices, just as the PDP’s acting secretary, Bola Ajao, said under cross-examination that he did not witness any rigging.
To prove that he won the election convincingly, Aregbesola has listed several documents and over 500 witnesses who will confirm to the tribunal that the election was the true reflection of the wishes of the people as expressed on August 9, 2014.
Listed among the witnesses are APC’s polling agents and voters who witnessed voting processes in the various units being challenged.
However, each of the three respondents has 10 days to defend the allegations of irregularities made by the petitioners.
THIS DAY