May 27, 2010
An elections petitions tribunal sitting in Oshogbo, Osun State, today awarded the disputed 2007 governorship election to the incumbent, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, declaring that the petition of the challenger, Rauf Aregbesola, the candidate of the Action Congress, had failed to sway the body.
In what observers described as a disjointed ruling marked by mistakes and incoherence on the part of the lead judge, indicating that the judgement was altered at the last minute, the tribunal gave Oyinlola the victory in spite of the massive irregularities that marked voting three years ago.
A tribunal earlier set up to adjudicate on the matter was massively compromised and bribed by the Oyinlola government. The chairman of that tribunal, Justice Thomas Naron, turned out to have exchanged secret text messages with Oyinlola's lawyer, Kunle Kalejaiye, to negotiate bribes that eventually swayed the judgement against Aregbesola.
A committee headed by Funke Adekoya (SAN), which was set by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), had indicted the lawyer, Kunle Kalejaiye for unethical legal practices, but the NBA leadership has foot dragged in sending their recommendations to the body of benchers responsible for discipline of crooked NBA members
The AC candidate has vowed to appeal today's ruling.
In what observers described as a disjointed ruling marked by mistakes and incoherence on the part of the lead judge, indicating that the judgement was altered at the last minute, the tribunal gave Oyinlola the victory in spite of the massive irregularities that marked voting three years ago.
A tribunal earlier set up to adjudicate on the matter was massively compromised and bribed by the Oyinlola government. The chairman of that tribunal, Justice Thomas Naron, turned out to have exchanged secret text messages with Oyinlola's lawyer, Kunle Kalejaiye, to negotiate bribes that eventually swayed the judgement against Aregbesola.
A committee headed by Funke Adekoya (SAN), which was set by the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), had indicted the lawyer, Kunle Kalejaiye for unethical legal practices, but the NBA leadership has foot dragged in sending their recommendations to the body of benchers responsible for discipline of crooked NBA members
The AC candidate has vowed to appeal today's ruling.
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