Osun State Election Petition Tribunal has issued a fresh order, directing the National Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to produce the Certificates and other documents of the state Governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke used in the 2018 governorship election.
The order followed the failure of the state Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) of the commission to produce the certificates in the previous sitting in compliance with the Subpoena issued on the commission.
Governor Adegboyega Oyetola is challenging the declaration of Adeleke as Governor-elect by the INEC.
At its resumed sitting on Friday, the tribunal, Chaired by Justice Tertsea Kume ruled that the mere appearance of the representative of REC has not answered the Subpoena on the commission to produce the documents.
In the ruling, the tribunal said an application for Subpoena is in Administrative Act and when it is granted, it becomes Judicial Act and the party upon which the Subpoena is issued must comply, citing Section 218 and 219 of the evidence act.
It ruled: “An order of the court is bound to be complied with by the party upon which it was made until it is set aside by the court. In the instant case the order has not been complied with.”
The tribunal further held that the request by the respondents that the petitioners should continue with the calling of the witness whose testimony is hanged on the Adeleke’s credentials was baseless, as the petitioners has the absolute prerogative on how to conduct their case.
The panel said the application was consequent to the failures of the state REC of the commission to produce the documents requested in the Subpoena.
According to the ruling, the Petitioners’ have shown sufficient reasons for the tribunal to compel the the National Chairman of INEC to produce the documents in question.
It then dismissed all the objections raised by the counsel for INEC, Adeleke and PDP and compelled the National Chairman of the commission to produce the documents in the next sitting of the panel on Thursday, December 1.
Counsel for the Petitioners, Chief Akin Olujinmi, SAN, described the ruling as a well researched one, saying it would go a long way in serving the course of justice in the hearing of the petition.
Addressing journalists shortly after the proceedings, Chief Olujinmi, said the court has done the right thing for reordering INEC to produce the requested documents containing Adeleke’s certificates.
He added: “The respondents, as we said during the last sitting, didn’t want to produce that document and that was why we had to argue at length to persuade the tribunal to reorder, which they eventually made today.
“The effect of this is that the INEC is now under a binding obligation to produce these documents at the next appearance in court on Thursday December 1st, 2022,” he added.
Counsel for INEC, Professor Paul Ananaba, SAN also conceded that they were ready now to follow the order of the court by producing the requested documents.
The Federal High Court sitting in Osogbo, the state capital, has nullified the just concluded local government election conducted in Osun State.
The local government poll was conducted on Saturday, October 15, 2022, by the Osun State Independent Electoral Commission (OSIEC) under the Chairmanship of Segun Oladitan.
Justice Ayo-Nathaniel Emmanuel of Federal High Court Osogbo on Friday had declared the local government election as illegal, null and void.
He also added that the election was not conducted in consonance with the Electoral Act of 2022.
He also ordered the local government chairmen and councillors who were sworn in after the election to vacate Local Government Secretariats and offices with immediate effect.
Reacting to the court judgment, the Osun Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) stated that its activism against the illegality of the outgoing administration of Adegboyega Oyetola has been vindicated.
In a statement signed by Akindele Adekunle, the Osun caretaker chairman of the party, lamented that about N1.5 billion naira that has been deployed for workers’ welfare was wasted by the Oyetola’s administration for the conduct of the election in addition to several millions of naira illegally paid as salaries and allowances to fake council chiefs.
“We had warned against holding that fake selection they called election. We had cited all relevant legal authorities to convince OSIEC to back out of the undemocratic scheme. The Commission Chairman who himself is a lawyer decided to act against clear provisions of the law to supervise this crudely executed lawlessness.
“This judgement is an affirmation of the correctness of many alerts we have issued in recent times. The outgoing Governor had deliberately committed a lot of infractions and lawlessness. We will deploy all legal means to correct the anomalies in compliance with public service rules, extant laws and the constitution of the republic,” the party leader stated.
The Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, has been lambasted by Nigerians who were shocked over a statement he made at Port Harcourt where he expressed his joy on Thursday that the Governor of his (Oyo) state, Seyi Makinde, had continued to support Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers in the coalition of five governors, now known as the Integrity Group.
Many people have taken to Twitter to condemn what they termed ‘judicial rascality on the part of the Chief Judge who according to them should not be partisan.
The group of five include Governors Wike, Makinde of Oyo state, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu state.
They have been at daggers drawn with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, accusing him of reneging on his alleged promise to ensure that if both the party’s standard bearer and National Chairman, now Iyorchia Ayu, emerged from the same region, the chairman would be forced to resign.
The quintet has refused to either endorse or support the campaigns of PDP’s Atiku, maintaining that for peace to return to the opposition party, Ayu must go.
But aside backing Makinde’s membership of the group, Ariwoola, joked that Makinde was being held to ransom by Wike by threatening to withdraw his sister (Makinde’s wife), who he said is from the South-south state, from the Oyo governor.
“That is why we should not be scared to have these men of the integrity group and I am happy that my own governor is among because he would try to imitate his friend and in-law because we came here to marry for my governor.“So, Governor Wike will always threaten that he will call back his sister if my governor fails to play ball. That is why you see him following his Excellency (Wike) because my governor is afraid of his wife being recalled,” he joked.
He acknowledged the presence of the group of five governors at the gala night and judiciary project inauguration which held in Rivers, stressing that they had been similarly present when Makinde held a reception to celebrate his appointment as CJN some months ago.
Ondo State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON, has said the advent of COVID-19 pandemic in the world and insurgency in Nigeria have worsened the problems of insecurity and unemployment.
Governor Akeredolu said profitable and optimal engagement of the youth is crucial to a desirable future, adding that they constitute the largest percentage of the population.
The Governor spoke on Wednesday at the Exco Chambers of the Governor’s Office while receiving participants of the Senior Course 45 programme of the Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Jaji, who are on Study Tour of Ondo State.
The 46-man team was lead by the Faculty Leader, Commodore Promise Dappa.
Appreciating them for finding Ondo State suitable again for the Study Tour, Governor Akeredolu noted that the importance of the topic of the Study Tour, “Youth Unemployment and National Security”, cannot be overemphasised.
He explained that the challenges of insecurity and unemployment are hydra-headed not only in the country but in the world at large.
Governor Akeredolu said the prevailing unemployment in the country has now made some youth to seek greener pastures abroad.
He added that there is correlation between unemployment and insecurity, stressing that all hands must be on deck to address the problems.
Governor Akeredolu reiterated the need for state police, saying the stand of his administration is that a police command in Abuja can not serve the nation of 300 million people.
His words: “In spite of our meager resources, our administration has recorded remarkable successes in securing the lives and property of people of the State as well as in the area of employment generation.
“Optimal and profitable engagement of the youth cannot be carried out without the enabling environment of which security of life and property occupies a central place. There is no gainsaying the fact that security of life and property is the most basic duty of government, without which peaceful coexistence will be hampered.
“It is in the light of the foregoing that our administration instituted a time-tested developmental agenda, with the acronym: REDEEMED. The agenda provides the framework for our interventions in the areas of security, education, health and provision of infrastructural facilities, employment creation and so on.
“I am glad to inform you that we have been providing consistent financial and logistic supports to all security agencies in the State, including the Army, Navy, Police, Airforce, Nigeria Civil Defence and Security Corps etc.
“As the saying goes, “the taste of the pudding is in the eating”, I should like you to experience firsthand the remarkable achievements of our administration in the highlighted sector, as you travel around the State.
“The Study Tour has, therefore, been carefully designed to afford participants opportunities to directly see some of the achievements, particularly with regard to security and employment generation.
“Resource persons have also been carefully selected to do justice to the lectures you will have at our Public Service Training Institute, Ilara-Mokin.
“The State owned Security Agency, the Amotekun Corps, has also been doing wonderfully well.
“The success of Amotekun Corps in Ondo State in particular and South West of Nigeria in general underscores the fact that the security architecture of the country must be decentralized for effective security of lives and properties in Nigeria.
“Apart from the unfortunate carnage that took place in St. Francis Catholic Church, Owo, on Sunday, 5th June, 2022 and a few isolated security breaches, there is relative peace in the State.
“The prevailing peace in the State, which is as a result of collaborative efforts of all the security agencies including the State own Amotekun Corps, has led to inflow of people and investors into the State.
“Our administration has also made significant progress in employment generation. Many professionals have been recruited into the State Public Service including health sector, teaching service, agric sector etc.
“Apart from massive investment in the hospitality and financial industries, we have also been able to attract a number of industries such as textile industry, cassava to etanol company, truck assemblage plant, etc. All of these are located in our Ondo Linyil industrial hub located in Ore.
“There is also the establishment of oil palm project termed Red Gold Project. The Red Gold Project has reduced youth unemployment in the State because thousands of youths are involved in the oil palm plantations and processing value chain.
“In line with our REEDEMED agenda, our interventions are also ongoing in provision of infrastructural facilities such as road construction, water supply, major intervention in the renovation and reconstruction of primary schools, provision of major infrastructure in our Teaching Hospitals.
“For instance, Ore Redemption Bridge was constructed in Odigbo Local Government Area; Oke Alabojuto in Ikare, Akoko North East Local Government Area; dualisation of some major streets in Akure, Owo, Okitipupa, Igbokoda etc.
“The above interventions have, no doubt, impacted positively on the well-being and standard of living of our people. Let me once again appreciate you for coming to Ondo, the Sunshine State. I wish you all distinguished participants a good time among the good and hospitable people and the richly endowed landscape of Ondo State.
Earlier, the Faculty Team Leader, Commodore Promise Dappa, explained that the purpose and objective of the study tour is for the participants to visit selected states every year to study the prevalent socio-cultural, socio-economic and security challenges in those states.
He added that it is to also see the efforts and various actions taken by the various state governments towards addressing those prevalent challenges.
“They are also required to establish a nexus between those challenges, the actions taken by those governors and the security of the states and national security as a whole. That is why this year, the theme of the tour is “Youth Unemployment and National Security of Nigeria,” Dappa added.
The Presidential candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Peter Obi has proceeded with his campaign in Ibadan, Oyo state capital, despite a report by Labour party that its presidential candidate’s aircraft was grounded in Lagos.
The party in a statement by Diran Onifade one of its spokespersons, said it will not cancel the rally despite the decision of federal authority to ground the aircraft that was supposed to fly Obi to Ibadan.
The party had accused the powers -that-be in Abuja for grounding the aircraft, in spite of the logistic problem that this has created the party said the campaign will still proceed as planned.
Onifade said the aircraft that was supposed to convey the party leade s to the state was grounded for “regulatory reasons”, adding that the plane had not been grounded contrary to speculations.
According to him, “The Obidient plane was grounded today by the powers that be “for regulatory reasons” only. Please ignore any mischievous rumour. Our massive rally in Ibadan is going on as planned.”
The presidential candidate of the party is one of the leading candidates in the 2023 presidential election, described by political pundits as a three horse race between Obi, Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, and, Atiku Abubakar of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP
The former Governor of Ekiti, John Kayode Fayemi has joined Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of Osun State to commission the Osogbo-Okinni-Ilobu road and Osogbo-Kelebe-Iragbiji road.
According to Fayemi, he said he was delighted to be a witness to one of the positive outcomes of his administration’s development agenda.
“A functional, efficient, and integrated transport system is critical to urban development. This is why APC-led states continue to invest in modern transport infrastructure to unlock the potential that abounds in this sector.
“I commend Governor Oyetola for making crucial investments in the construction and rehabilitation of critical infrastructure, and wish the people of Osun State well”, said Fayemi.
A legal practitioner and human rights activist, Mike Enahoro-Ebah, has instituted legal actions against the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, over alleged certificate forgery, age falsification and lying on oath.
The suits, dated 9th November and filed on the 10th, by Enahoro-Ebah were brought pursuant to Sections 88(1), 89(3), 109(A), 110(C) and 115(1)(B) and 119 of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA), 2015; under the inherent jurisdiction and powers of the court secured by Section 6(6)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
The three separate direct criminal complaints marked: CR/121/2022, CR/122/2022 and CR/123/2022 against Tinubu were filed at the Chief Magistrate Court sitting at Wuse Zone 6, Abuja.
He said it is in the best interest of Nigeria, justice and equity to issue criminal summons to ensure Tinubu’s attendance in court to answer the complaints.
Specifically, the complainant is alleging that Tinubu lied on oath having falsely sworn to an affidavit in support of his personal particulars (Form EC-9) submitted to INEC on June 17, 2022.
In case number: CR/121/2022, Enahoro-Ebah accused Tinubu of presenting “A forged Chicago State University Certificate to INEC with the intent that it may be acted upon as genuine, thereby committed the offence of forgery contrary to Sections 362(a), 363 and 364 of the Penal Code Act, Cap. 532, Laws of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja”.
Enahoro-Ebah alleged that Bola Tinubu that attended Chicago State University was born in 1954 and not 1952 as claimed by the APC presidential candidate on oath in his sworn Form EC-9 submitted to INEC. He alleged that the copy of the Chicago State University Certificate released by the school “is radically different” from the copy attached to Tinubu’s sworn Form EC-9 submitted to INEC on June 17.
The complainant said he applied, through his colleague, Mathew J. Kowals, a Chicago-based legal practitioner, who issued an attorney subpoena on his behalf against the university in case number: 22-L-007289 on August 12, directing the school to mail him (Kowals) all documents and records pertaining to Tinubu in their possession.
According to the lawyer, copies of the Chicago State University Certificate, academic records, undergraduate admission application form, University of Cambridge General Certificate of Education, and copy of Southwest College Transcript (now City College of Chicago) were later sent to him which he attached to the court documents as exhibits.
“Curiously, the information contained in the documents and school records received from Chicago State University contradicts material information provided by the defendant in his sworn Form EC-9 submitted to INEC,” he said.
Enahoro-Ebah claimed that a direct comparison of both certificates reveal different dates of issue by the university (June 22, 1979, and June 27, 1979); different university logos on both certificates; different grammatical construction on the faces of the certificates, and different signatures, among others.
He said in support of the defendant’s undergraduate admission application form submitted to Chicago State University in 1977, was a transcript from Southwest College, Chicago, bearing the name, “Tinubu Bola A” which belongs to a female student, contrary to Form EC-9 submitted to INEC which indicated that Tinubu is a man.
More so, Enahoro-Eba that the Tinubu that attended the university indicated in his undergraduate admission application form that he graduated from Government College, Lagos in 1970, while the defendant in his Form EC-9 submitted to INEC provided no information as to his attendance of the said Government College, Lagos, among other allegations.
The case, which is before Chief Magistrate Emmanuel Iyanna, is yet to be fixed for hearing.
The Oyo State Anti-Corruption Agency (OYACA) on Wednesday, announced that some serving and retired civil servants of the State have been arrested for fraudulent contract, awarded in 2018.
The fraud, according to a statement signed by the agency’s Chairman, Justice Eni Esan (retired) was said to have been perpetrated by the individuals at the Oyo State Road Maintenance Agency (OYSROMA) and information about it concealed till the State’s anti-graft agency discovered it.
The act, according to the statement, involved the payment of the sum of #4.8billion to the three private companies without delivering the project and the agency is now after the said companies since the case was established and the officers involved arrested.
The agency claimed it is after the said companies since the case has been established and the officers involved have been arrested for further investigation and prosecution by the State’s Attorney-General.
“The Oyo State Anti-Corruption Agency (OYACA) has nabbed some retired and serving top civil servants of Oyo State Road Maintenance Agency (OYSROMA) for complicity in a fraudulent contract awarded in 2018.
“OYACA was able to discover this fraud despite concealment by the affected top officials to thwart the investigation exercise, the fraud involved the payment of humongous amount of money in the sum of #4.8billion to three companies yet to show up for investigation in spite of our invitations.
“The agency is on the heels of the affected companies to recoup the money paid into their accounts in 2018 for supplies not made to date, while investigation is still ongoing, OYACA makes bold to say that the law is no respecter of persons and everyone who has any form of connection with the matter will be dealt with according to the law.
“We hereby reiterate our commitment to zero tolerance of corruption in the public service of Oyo State,” it affirmed.
The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja yesterday had reserved till Wednesday ruling on an application seeking to strike out or dismiss an appeal filed by Hon. Oladipupo Adebutu against the judgment of the Federal High Court, Abeokuta, delivered on the 27th of September, 2022, which sacked him and ordered a fresh governorship primary election.
It would be recalled that some people filed a suit challenging the party’s primaries which birthed a judgement delivered by Justice O.O.Oguntoyinbo asking that the PDP to conduct a fresh primary within a stipulated period of 14 days. Another case was instituted by Hon. Segun Seriki against the Party claiming that he was denied participation in the primary elections.
The High Court sitting in Ogun State on 27th September, 2022, ordered that a fresh primary be conducted to cater for all interest groups in the party which led to a temporary stepped down of all the PDP Candidates in Ogun State by INEC ahead of 2023 elections.
The crisis rocking the PDP in Ogun State has been lingering for a long period of time and has caused several setback for the progress of the party.
