An ambitious project, which is set to change the face of new town concept in the country, has been flagged off by the Government of the State of Osun. The project, christened, Oranmiyan New Town, is coming after a long wait for a more conducive livable town in the state.
The scheme, measuring about 2,572 hectares of land, about 6340 acres, was first acquired by Chief Obafemi Awolowo as the Premier of the old Western Region in between 1962 and 1966 for the purpose of banishing hunger and poverty and unemployment among the people.
Promoted by the Ministry of the Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Development with support of an inter-ministerial committee, the new town is expected to have over 3,000 residential plots of varying densities, with the smallest plot being in the region of 1,000 square metres. It is also expected to cater for an estimated population of over 80,000 people. Amongst proposed basic infrastructural facilities, utilities and services within are road networks, uninterrupted electricity, water reticulation, drainage system, sewage system and other communal facilities.
Under the new town scheme, a comprehensive development plan has been mapped, which will comprise seven neighborhoods, each accommodating private estate developments, commercial shops, strip malls, community centres, recreational facilities, police posts, and health centres; The recreational area will also have tennis and squash courts, 18-Hole Golf Course and Polo Ground.
The site was formerly being used for farming purpose until after the creation of State from the erstwhile Oyo State resulting to the mass movement of people into the State from neighbouring States apart from the civil servant who were to relocate compulsorily. “This scenario eventually led to shortage of housing accommodation for people hence the inauguration of an inter-ministerial Committee to work out a modality for the utilization of the hitherto “Osun Farm Settlement” for its highest and best use the committee thereafter came out with their recommendation that the large parcel of land should be converted into a Government Reservation Area, change of use of which came into effect since 1994 and tagged Osun GRA, Gbongan Road.”
Speaking at the flagging off ceremony of the project, Governor Rauf Aregbesola said: “On assumption of office, the Ministry saddled with the responsibility of managing Government land in the State deemed it fit to re-develop the remaining parcel of land within the GRA measuring up to 1,200 hectares into a new town that shall be a model that other neighbouring State will learn from.”
He recalled that as a result of lack of proper urban physical planning, which the State experienced in the past during which people carried out physical development as they wished with attendant problem of perennial flooding, intra-city traffic and transportation problems unkempt environment leading to health hazard, it takes courage for one to break this jinx through the introduction of pragmatic and practical urban development control.
His words: “Osun is an urbanized State. Hardly can one travels in the State for a distance of ten kilometres without passing through a community. Apart from this, the rate of influx of people from rural to urban area, a process called urbanization is alarming and leading to development of shanty towns, ghettos and urban decay (slums) and sprawls.”
According to the governor, developing new towns is a common phenomenon all over the world. The purpose of developing a new town is basically to create an environment that is aesthetically pleasing for living, working and recreating. More often than not, a new town can serve as a satellite town to an existing urban centre that has more or less reached its optimum level of growth so as to give room for its upgrading and partial re-development.
Governor Aregbesola pointed out that “when fully developed, the New Town will serve as a growth pole to the area surrounding it. There is no doubting the fact that this new town scheme shall add another feather to the cap of this state, which is already known for being the first in a lot of programmes that are meant for bettering the lots of the citizenry. As already, this State is the only one that had prepared Structural Plans for nine of her major cities throughout the country; it is also only the State of Osun where Urban Renewal programs had commenced in nine cities at the same time! With all these developmental programs, the State is expected to stretch her neck higher and above those of her contemporaries in the nearest future.”
The State’s Commissioner for Lands, Physical Planning and Urban Development, Mr. Olumuyiwa Ige, explained that the basic concept of developing a new town is to provide a balanced and self-contained community as far as possible in term of the provisions of infrastructure and community facilities.
He explained that it is with a view to achieving the concept that Oranmiyan New Town was designed to comprise seven neighbourhoods to accommodate housing of different densities (Low, medium and High); commercial service; industrial and public cum semi-public uses; supported by essential infrastructure and community facilities; such as police posts, community centres, elementary, middle and high schools, places of worship, neighbourhood parks, health and centres, amongst others.
He said that an Inter-Ministerial Committee by Government met severally and came up with a recommendation that the hitherto Osun Farm Settlement should be converted and used as a Government Reservation Area called Osun GRA, Gbongan Road. “Before now the GRA had been broken into phases and developed in peace meals.”The remaining portion of the land had been comprehensively designed for development of a New Town-Oranmiyan New Town for the purpose of creating an urban environment that reflects the unique local flavours of its landscapes and cultural settings, while at the same line aspiring for universal qualities of accessibility, livability, safety and modernity,” he said.
Ige, an architect, disclosed that “Oranmiyan New Town has three major categories of roads: The Main Boulevard that collects the New Town to the External Osogbo-Gbongan Road from the Nigerian Police Zone II Headquarters’ end. The road has a right of way of 42metres broken into the dual carriage ways, median strip, drain and utility lane.
“Oranmiyan New Town boasts of botanical garden, commercial strips of plots along major roads, serviced plots, a Down Town/Central Business District (CBD) with varying land uses (religions, educational, commercial, institutional and light industrial outfits. In addition, three Arms Zone has been created to accommodate and incorporation the House of Assembly (Legislature); Proposed High Court and Judiciary Quarters (Judiciary) and the Governor’s Office (Executive), in addition to the proposed New Government House.”
Owning a parcel of land within the scheme also varies depending on the category and size of plot desired.
For instance, potential investors in the residential plots are required to obtain an application form for making a premium deposit of N60, 000.
A premium of N1, 000 per square metre (m2 ), and development levy of N2, 000/m2 , is applicable as payment. Other incidental expenses, such as survey fee, deed preparation fee, deed registration fee and annual ground rent of N15/m2 are applicable. For commercial / industrial plots, the same process applies, but with a higher premium of N1, 500/m2.
DAILY INDEPENDENT

THE Justice Research Centre (JRC) in Benin, Edo State, has hailed the conduct of the August 9, 2014, governorship election in Osun State, describing it as a reflection of the will of the people of the state.
The JRC also added that the outcome of the election has helped the process of institutionalising the sanctity of the electoral ballot in the country.
The statement signed by the chairman of the centre, Inwalomhe Donald, noted that “unlike Nigeria ’s previous elections, particularly the pre-2011 elections where dead voters and votes held sway, the Osun election voters and votes were not robotically created.
TRIBUNE

The Chairman, Osogbo branch, Nigerian Society of Engineers, Mr. Adeniran Ibitoye, has commended Osun State Governor, Mr. Rauf Aregbesola, for his administration’s efforts on urban renewal and the creation of the Oranmiyan New Town.
He made the commendation in an interview with our correspondent in Osogbo during the inaugural meeting of the new executive council.
The chairman, who said that the society was able to mobilise more members to attend the meeting, added that the new leadership of the NSE had secured and furnished office accommodation for members of the council.
Ibitoye said, “Osogbo is now more populated with the influx of people since the inception of the present administration, hence the need for expansion and more decent accommodation to create a healthy environmental, which will help the citizens to have a better living.
“Because of the present government’s focus on giving more dividends of democracy to the people of the state, there is a need to yield to the pressure from people in the area of urban renewal and infrastructural development.
“The new town is a laudable project. It will create more decent accommodation for the people and it will surely increase the population of the state.”
The NSE chairman said Aregbesola had patronised indigenous contractors in projects embarked upon by his administration, but appealed to the governor to make use of them more.
The governor had said during its inauguration that the Oranmiyan New Town, which will have over 3,000 residential plots, was also borne out of an overriding public need to ease the pressure of accommodation on Osogbo as the state capital.
OSUN DEFENDER

The embattled Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, on Sunday, commended the people of Osun State for “resisting principalities from Abuja” and re-electing Governor Rauf Aregbesola on August 9.
He urged all Nigerians to do the same in 2015, and elect a new government that can provide leadership to the country.
Tambuwal spoke in Lagos at a colloquium for Governor Rauf Aregbesola, organised by The Gazelle News, his first public appearance since his security details were withdrawn due to his defection from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to the All Progressives Congress.
He said the PDP-led Federal Government tried as much as possible to scuttle the re-election of Aregbesola and the victory of the APC in Osun.
He said, “I congratulate the people of Osun for resisting those principalities from Abuja; for resisting those members of the armed forces and security agents who should have been at Sambisa Forest then but were misdirected and were unleashed on the peaceful people of Osun.
“Therefore, in 2015, the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria should remain resolved to exercise their franchise and ensure that they elect people who can provide leadership. This country belongs to all of us, it doesn’t belong to a cabal; it doesn’t belong to an individual. We are all stakeholders in the Nigerian project. We should come together and ensure that come 2015, we will get the right leadership for this country.”
The Speaker refused to speak in details about the issues surrounding his defection.
He said, “Since the beginning of the drama in Abuja, I’ve not made any public appearance before today. The matter is in court, I’ll not say much but to draw attention to this, before my defection, the governor of Ondo State defected alongside the Speaker of that state legislature. I believe there was no pronouncement by the Inspector-General of Police that that Speaker had lost his seat.”
Aregbesola thanked all those who contributed to his success at the polls including a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu; a former Governor of Osun State, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola; and Alhaji Kawu Baraje, who represented former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was scheduled to chair the occasion.
Aregbesola, however, warned that recent events in Burkina Faso was a clarion call to Nigerians to get ready for revolution in 2015 in the case the PDP-led Federal Government attempts to rig the election.
He said, “It won’t come cheap. It didn’t come cheap in Osun. We fought and fought and fought to be able to resist them.
“From the surveys we have conducted, the PDP cannot win any free and fair election in any part of Nigeria because they have brought woes, sorrows and tears to Nigerians and they must just go.”
The National Legal Adviser of the APC, Muiz Banire, who was the guest speaker at the event, noted that it was Aregbesola’s popularity that won the election for the party.
He urged the party to embrace internal democracy that would ensure that the most popular aspirants emerged as the party’s candidates.
Banire also kicked against zoning and religious consideration in making the choice of candidates.
OSUN DEFENDER

The Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has asked the governorship candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the August 9 election in the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore, to discontinue his petition to challenge the victory of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.
According to the APC, “Omisore’s exercise would be as futile as that of his party’s  wasted effort to annul the legislative elections of 2011 in which all the PDP candidates lost their bid to be elected into the state and national assemblies.
The party’s spokesman, Kunle Oyatomi, said: “From what the public has seen and heard so far, Omisore and the PDP appear to be relying purely on falsehood, and not facts on the ground, and their lies are falling apart like a pack of cards.”
It noted that last Friday, the Osun PDP withdrew a case seeking to declare null, the election supervised by Ambassador Rufus Akeju, the state Independent National Electoral Commissioner (INEC), Resident Electoral Commissioner in the state, at the Federal High Court in Osogbo through a motion dated October 15, and signed by their counsel, Kehinde Adesiyan.
It recalled that the PDP, prior to he 2011 elections, approached the Federal High Court in Osogbo for an injunction to restrain Akeju from supervising the conduct of the election and was granted, but was appealed against by INEC at the Court of Appeal in Akure.
The APC said: “The Appeal Court three weeks ago struck out INEC’s appeal due to what it termed ‘defective filing of the notice.’ Omisore and the PDP attempted to turn the ruling to a ‘judgment’ sacking all the state legislators both in Osun and Abuja. But when it became clear that the PDP couldn’t win on this falsehood, it had the case withdrawn from the Federal High Court in Osogbo last Friday.”
The APC stressed that PDP’s  lie was so blatant and embarrassing that even some responsible members of the PDP within and outside the state felt sad and ashamed that so much falsehood was being associated with their party.
It added that the same line was being towed with another lie that the tribunal had ordered a recount of votes for which the tribunal chairman denied and warned the party to allow them do their job.
According to the party, the PDP appeared not to have learnt anything from the pressure of spreading deliberate falsehood.
‘This inability to learn from history is what has made the PDP and Omisore replicate the futile mission all over again, and that anything founded on falsehood will fail and the current mission of Omisore, which is fundamentally based on ignoble lies will also collapse,” the APC predicted.
The party said it was therefore in the interest of Omisore, the PDP and fledging democracy that this mission impossible be aborted before it pollutes the democratic atmosphere.
It remarked that the earlier Omisore comes to terms with the reality that he is just chasing shadow, the better for everybody.
THISDAY

The State of Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme (O-MEALS) has been described as the best and most organized in the country which other states need to emulate.
This was the submission of a 17- member Delta State Committee on Food and Nutrition who were in Osun to understudy the Osun school feeding programme of the state.
Speaking on behalf of other members, the Coordinator of the Committee who is also the UNICEF Desk Officer in the Delta State Ministry of Finance, Mr. Akozor Nduka disclosed that, the aim of the Delta state government is to introduce school feeding as an intervention to encourage pupils in crisis prone communities of the state.
Akozor who stated that, a hungry pupil as a result of the poverty level of the parent cannot concentrate in class, held that the best way to encourage attendance, enrolment and concentration is by introducing school feeding at least once daily.
He emphasized on the need for other states including Delta to understudy the school feeding programme of Osun as a role model so as to succeed.
According to him, Osun is the leading example among the states of the federation carrying out the school feeding programme in the right way.
He stressed that, arrangement would be made to ensure those in authority and policy makers in Delta state to come to the State of Osun to see things for themselves in a bid to facilitate quick implementation of the programme in the South Southern State.
Earlier, the State Operation officer for Osun School Feeding and Health Programmes, Mrs. Olubunmi Ayoola while briefing the delegates before the field inspection hinted that, Osun School Feeding gulps N12.7 million daily.
Mrs. Ayoola  maintained that, the Governor of the State of Osun ,Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola is passionate in bridging the gap between the children of the poor and the rich through O-meals and other School facilities he provided, thereby making him to regard it as an investment in the lives of the future leaders rather than expenditure.
Mrs. Ayoola stressed that, nutritious menu used for the school feeding programme has tremendously impacted in the retentive and enrolment capacity of the pupils, while urging the delegates to make the best use of the Osun experience.
Part of the tour of the Delta state committee was the physical inspection of O-Meals food vendors and their food at L.A Elementary Model School, Imo, Ilesa as well as how centrally distributed food items like beef, fish and egg are being processed, packaged and distributed at abattoir in Ilesa and Feg Agro Farm, Ijeda-ijesa respectively.
BIOREPORTS

“Ogbeni Aregbesola is a superlatively efficient political executive. The successes he has recorded with such staggering accuracy and speed has stripped the opposition of their political cover. One cannot but state that he is guiding the people of the state of Osun to the coast of prosperity” – Quoted in Nowinta’s book – OGBENI RAUF AREGBESOLA (In the footsteps of Obafemi Awolowo).
Before August 9^th Osun State Governorship Election , and on the d-day itself (9^th of August), the Governorship Candidate of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Senator Iyiola Omisore did everything in his power to sway the attention of voters, to his direction .
But in the end, he failed woefully and fatally as the result of the election showed clearly that he was never the choice of the majority of eligible voters in Osun State. With 394,684 votes for Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (he won in 22 out of 30 Local Government Areas) and 292,747 votes for Senator Iyiola Omisore, it was one of the heaviest political defeats suffered by the PDP in Osun State, since democracy reared its head again in Nigeria in 1999.
The outcome of the June 21, 2014 Governorship election in Ekiti State, where ex-Governor Dr Kayode Fayemi (of All Progressives Congress) mysteriously lost to the present Governor- Ayo Fayose of the PDP, indeed gave Senator Iyiola false hope of dethroning a down to earth, pragmatic , cerebral and focused Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State. Even, the marksmen (ninjas) that Senator Omisore brought to campaign grounds early in the electioneering days could not help him. The federal might that came to influence things on the ground by stark show of power intimidations and unwarranted arrest of stalwarts of APC could not save Senator Omisore from certain disgraceful outing that became his lot in Osun State.
Information that reached me on the 9^th of August from Oshogbo, from a political stakeholder in the state revealed that the PDP and its foot soldiers were battle ready to snatch victory at all cost. According to my friend, the election in Osun State was like ‘war’. Wait a minute! How long are we going to perambulate in the ocean of our porous electoral system? How long will some politicians continue to descend to the abyss of gangsterism, brigandage and blatant fraud, because they wanted to win at all cost
I am saddened that the National Assembly and the presidency have chosen to look the other way, instead of revisiting the electoral Act with a view to sanitise our electoral system. It is shameful and ridiculous that countries like Ghana and South Africa have sanitised their electoral systems to a reasonable degree, while in Nigeria, the process has graduated to a state of ‘war’ and barbarism.
With what any objective minded person who pays a visit to Osun State can see happening in terms of gigantic distribution of democratic dividends and altruistic leadership which Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is championing, there is no way a character like Senator Iyiola Omisore could have won the August 9^th, Governorship election.
Well, the PDP and their foot soldiers indeed thought otherwise in Osun; that they could try the impossible, but their calculations failed before their eyes. Now, that the election has been won and lost, it is the honest opinion of men of good will that at least the sleeping dog should be allowed to rest. Even, Senator Omisore should allow the judiciary to do their job, transparently instead of trying to steal victory behind the scene or jump the gun as the matter of the August 9^th 2014 Governorship election is being handled at the law courts.
More worrisome is the way the Peoples Democratic Party in Osun State has been carrying on lately as if paper tigerism, strident propaganda and resort to cheap blackmail could turn the table of victory against Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. Omisore and his desperadoes should simply turn their attention to what is happening in Edo State and what had happened before. In 2012, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole became the greatest election winner in Edo State, when he secured a pan Edo electoral victory for the second term in office. Hard as General Charles Airhiavbere of the Peoples Democratic Party tried, even against a royal advice from the Bini Monarch, not to approach the Edo State Governorship Election Tribunal, he refused to yield and ended up with humiliating disgrace.
General Airhiavbere fell from the little grace he had immediately after the Edo State Governorship election, to a disastrous grass, from where he is currently recuperating politically, because he wanted to win via a back door. Today, those who have vowed to truncate the tenureship of Comrade Oshiomhole as Governor of Edo State are presently wallowing in the stew of ridicule, confusion and regret, as the Comrade Governor has emerged the winner of the recent attempted democratic coup.
Just few weeks ago Comrade Oshiomhole’s controlled Edo State House of Assembly (with majority members) passed the budget 2015 successfully while the PDP controlled House of Assembly sat idling away and ranted without achieving any head way. It is tragic to recollect that most politicians in our clime are more or less uncivilised and demented towards acquisition of elective positions, even in the face of stark fact that they are unwanted and unpopular, as a result of their political or professional antecedents.
Today, the powers that be have defecated on the judiciary in Ekiti State, while a man who supposed to be in the dock has been sworn in as Governor. I feel dismayed by the culture of intimidation, squandering of democracy and noxious practises of enslaving some Nigerians such as are being noticed in Edo State and Ekiti State because the South West must be taken as a presidential spoils in the race for 2015.
In Osun State Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola must be left alone because what the PDP- cum Senator Omisore is digging out against the resounding victory of August 9th recorded by All Progressive Congress is ridiculous to every stretch of imagination and resembles a medieval political witch hunting.
Since 2007, I have watched Ogbeni Aregbesola to know that he is nothing but a bundle of character, competence and capacity. The magic of Aregbesola is but a catechism for democratic dividends in Nigeria. This magic is tantamount to a revolution in the state of Osun.
As he prepares for his second term inauguration on November 27^th, 2014, Omisore and his gang should kindly leave him alone and not speak for the judiciary. Ogbeni deserves to be left alone because he won the August 9^th election convincingly.
Nowinta, wrote Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (In the footsteps of Obafemi Awolowo).

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola with the German Chief Executive Officer, Entrade Energiesystem, Mr. Julien Uhlig Chinese Chief Financial Officer, Entrade Energiesystem, Mr. James KongChairman, Citiengineers Limited, Co-ordinator, Entrade Energiesystem,during a courtesy visit to the governor at Government House on 30/10/2014.

Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola(middle); German Chief
Executive Officer, Entrade Energiesystem, Mr. Julien Uhlig (2nd right);
Chinese Chief Financial Officer, Entrade Energiesystem, Mr. James Kong
(right); Chairman, Citiengineers Limited, Mr. Bello Olatunji (2nd left) and
Co-ordinator, Entrade Energiesystem, Mrs. Olanike Adewole (left) during a
courtesy visit to the governor at Government House on 30/10/2014.

*From left-* Chairman, Citiengineers Limited, Mr. Bello Olatunji; Governor
State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; German Chief Executive Officer,
Entrade Energiesystem, Mr. Julien Uhlig; Chinese Chief Financial Officer,
Entrade Energiesystem, Mr. James Kong and Director, Entrade Africa Growth
PLC, Mr. Ayo Bamidele during a courtesy visit to the governor at government
house on 30/10/2014.

*From right-* German Chief Executive Officer, Entrade Energiesystem, Mr.
Julien Uhlig; Governor State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola; Chairman,
Citiengineers Limited, Mr. Bello Olatunji; Co-ordinator, Entrade
Energiesystem, Mrs. Olanike Adewole and Osun State Commissioner for
Finance, Dr. Wale Bolorunduro during a courtesy visit to the governor at
government house on 30/10/2014.

Call it wicked lies or absolute falsehood and you will not be far from right. The build-up to the August 9th gubernatorial election in the State of Osun was fraught with a lot of propaganda and evil machinations. The federal might was brought to bear on the hapless citizens of the state. Hooded security officials were brought to the state to do the bidding of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) by installing an unpopular candidate.
Not only were soldiers, who ought to be drafted to Sambisa forest, deployed to the State of Osun, policemen, members of the Department of the State Security, Nigeria Security and Defence Corps personnel and anti-bomb squad were mobilized to Osun because an election was to take place.
To their utmost surprise, however, the people were determined and resolute that they would stand by the truth and ensured that justice prevailed. They voted and ensured that their votes counted. Among the lies told against Governor Rauf Aregbesola before the election was that he planned to turn Osun into an Islamic State. He was also accused of planning secession. How ridiculous and ludicrous this assertion can be knowing full well that the state is in the heart of the country and such cannot be done alone.
Some people have turned blatant lies into an art and feel that politics cannot be practiced without lying to the people. Some politicians just sit down and cook up stories and begin to spread it around.
In the case of Osun, some politicians and their followers were so gullible to believe that Governor Rauf Aregbesola was of unsound mind and could not undertake the task of governance in the State of the Virtuous. It was because of these negative tendencies that in the 60s, some people were of the view that politics was not meant for good people or men of God. However, if we continue to hold that position, it means we would have relegated our basic duties to riff-raffs and nonentities, who would lead us astray.
The last election in the State of Osun brought out the desperadoes in some of the opposition political parties.
The candidate of the major opposition party was cocksure sure that he had the governorship title to pick on the election day. Cabinet in-waiting had been formed, people to be dismissed from civil service have been pencilled down, men and women to replace current office holders in agencies and organizations have been drawn up.
A seeming aura of a governor had enveloped the major opposition candidate before the election. He had during his electioneering campaigns alluded to the fact that some traditional rulers would be destooled. Things were done with impunity. He chose not to campaign on any solid issue except the fact that he will undo all that the sitting governor had done.
He also told the people at his campaigns that the supporters of the government party do not know the value of the ballot papers, so it should be retrieved from them.
The supposing overwhelming support of the federal might was the basis for that audacious posturing realizing that, resources in terms of money and security personnel would be at his beck and call.
Strong supporters of the All Progressives People’s Congress (APC) were either arrested by phantom security personnel wearing masks on the eve of election day or were chased out of town.
In all their calculations, they forgot to factor-in providence or the will and determination of the people to take their fate in their hands.
Propaganda, which is false information emphasizing just one part of a situation, is allowed in politics and even in international politics, albeit not outright falsehood.
What transpired in Osun before and during election was outright ignominy. There were subtle attempts by the opposition party in the state to change election results. Some even attributed the delay in the pronouncement of the winner of the election to a shenanigan sort of.
Some analysts have concluded that the resort to the Election Petition Tribunal by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was a ploy to keep their supporters together, else, they would abandon ship.
First, it was the misinformation or misinterpretation of the Appeal Court verdict in Akure that refused the prayer of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as it affected the 2011 general elections, that sent is some ignoramus into wild jubilation.
The opposition party went to town that the court had nullified all the election conducted by INEC in the state in 2011, when the substantive Resident Electoral Commissioner, Ambassador Rufus Akeju, held sway, which is absolute falsehood.
The latest of the malicious lies is that the Election Petition Tribunal (EPT) ordered inspection team of ballot papers has recounted the votes in the disputed 17 local government council areas and that the report shows that Iyiola Omisore has more valid votes than Aregbesola. In reality, only ballot papers in five local government council areas have been inspected as at Thursday, October 30th. Unfortunately the African Independent Television (AIT) fell for it and fed its teeming viewers with the false information. This, the television station has retracted the news item and apologized for being misled.
Desperado and malicious lies cannot win election. It requires solid preparation with good manifesto.
OSUN DEFENDER

The Election petition tribunal sitting in Osogbo on Thursday cautioned politicians and media against spreading false information about proceedings of the tribunal.

The Osun election tribunal chaired by His Lordship Elizabeth Kpejomi with Hon. Justice Vincent Ofesi and Justice Kutigi at the resumed sitting of the tribunal asked for the cooperation of all parties towards ensuring smooth adjudication of the matter before them.

The tribunal which began its hearing on Thursday with a pre-hearing session warned that the tribunal will not take kindly to any attempt at spreading falsehood against the tribunal.

She frowned at the lies purportedly being peddled around by the Peoples Democratic Party ( PDP) in Osun that the tribunal had given an order for recount when in actual fact no such order was granted.

The Chairman particularly warned the media to ensure accurate reportage of events at the Tribunal so as not to misinform people of its activities.

According to her, “I want to personally appeal to media practitioners who are here to report accurately happenings at the tribunal, if you are not clear with anything, you should always seek clarification.

“We were particularly shocked by the falsehood being bandied around last week about an order that was not granted by us or any other court. Such news, if we are not careful could lead to the breakdown of law and order.

“I want to use this occasion to warn us that henceforth, we will not take it kindly with any  attempt at spreading outright falsehood against the tribunal”. Justice Kpejomi stressed.

‎Responding on behalf of other Counsel in the matter, Chief Akin Olujinmi (SAN) commended the courage of the tribunal for pointing out the reckless dissemination of falsehood by some segments of the media

Olujimi assured the tribunal that counsels will cooperate fully with the tribunal to ensure that justice is done without  fear or favour.

‎

Dr.Alex Iziyon (SAN) who led four SAN and fourteen other Lawyers on behalf of the petitioners (Omisore and PDP) informed the court that there are four pending applications before the court.

He pointed out that two out of the four motions are joined, bordering on the issue of jurisdiction and competence of the petition which can be taken together  with the main petition.

Iziyon was of the opinion that parties had wasted two months out of six months slated for the petition, saying, it is in the interest of justice for the other applications to be heard together with the petition.

He also withdrew the only application by the petitioner seeking to exclude the 1st and 2nd Respondent from further inspection of polling documents at INEC office having realised that the application is dead on arrival.

Chief Akin Olujinmi while responding to the application of Dr. Alex Iziyon SAN referred to Paragraph 53 (5) of first Schedule of Electoral Act 2010 as amended which provides that an objection challenging the regularity of the petition shall be heard and determined after close of pleadings.

He noted that pleadings have closed, the objection challenges the competence of the petition and so cannot be taken along with the petition.

The court on its own referred Chief Olujinmi to paragraph 12 (5) of the amended Act but Chief Olujinmi insisted that Section 53 (5) is specific on jurisdiction while 12 (5) is general.

According to him, the essence of the motion is that if the petition is not properly filed, there will be nothing for the court to look at. While the other motion relates to pre-trial failure to apply within time.

In his word, “there is no authority that pre-hearing motions should be taken together with the main petition”.He cited Okonkwo v. INEC (2004) 1NWLR pt 854 pg.242 at 247.