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10 — Vanguard, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2022<br />
:Vanguard News<br />
Osun poll didn't comply with<br />
INEC guidelines Oyetola's<br />
witness tells court<br />
•Adeleke's certificate not in our<br />
custody —REC<br />
By Shina Abubakar<br />
OSOGBO—THE<br />
State<br />
collation agent for Governor<br />
Adegboyega Oyetola and the All<br />
Progressives Congress, APC,<br />
Adeosun Rasaki, yesterday, told the<br />
Justice Tertsea Kume-led Osun<br />
state election petition tribunal that<br />
though he appended his signature<br />
on the July 16 governorship<br />
election, the exercise was not<br />
conducted in compliance with the<br />
Independent National Electoral<br />
Commission, INEC, guidelines in<br />
749 polling units.<br />
Adeosun, a Special Adviser to the<br />
Governor on Local Government<br />
and Chieftaincy Affairs, in his<br />
evidence before the tribunal said<br />
he received reports of happenings<br />
from all the polling units from party<br />
agents but was not aware if they all<br />
signed the election results in their<br />
respective units.<br />
Adeosun, who was crossexamined<br />
by Counsels to the<br />
second respondent, Senator<br />
Ademola Adeleke, Onyeachi<br />
Ikpeazu, SAN, said evidence before<br />
his party showed that the Bimodal<br />
Voter Registration System, BVAS,<br />
was not used in 749 polling units<br />
the governor challenged.<br />
He said: "My party engaged<br />
experts to analyse the results of<br />
the election. The election was held<br />
in partial compliance with INEC<br />
guidelines. The evidence showed<br />
that BVAS was not used in 749<br />
polling units. BVAS machine was<br />
used in my polling unit.<br />
"INEC did not comply with<br />
guidelines in 749 polling units to<br />
the best of my knowledge. The<br />
INEC server cannot be at the<br />
polling units but receiving<br />
information from all the units. BVAS<br />
machine transmits results/data<br />
subject to the availability of a<br />
network."<br />
Responding to Professor Paul<br />
Ananba, INEC's counsel<br />
questions, Rasaki said he did not<br />
operate the BVAS machine on<br />
Election Day but knows how it<br />
works.<br />
Adeleke's certificate<br />
not in our custody<br />
—REC<br />
Earlier, the Resident Electoral<br />
Commissioner, REC, in Osun State,<br />
had told the panel that the state<br />
office of the commission was not in<br />
the custody of Adeleke's certificates.<br />
The REC was billed to appear<br />
before the panel in line with a<br />
Subpoena issued on him to produce<br />
form CF001 of Adeleke which<br />
contained his credentials used for<br />
the 2018 governorship election.<br />
Mr Sheu Mohammed, a Deputy<br />
Director of Election and Party<br />
Monitoring, who represented the<br />
REC, when asked to produce the<br />
document required of him, said: "We<br />
are not in the custody of the<br />
documents; the documents were<br />
submitted to the National<br />
Headquarters. We were only given<br />
photocopies by the National<br />
Headquarters for display. After we<br />
might have done with litigations,<br />
the only records we kept in our office<br />
are the form EC8A Series."<br />
Asked by the tribunal to<br />
produce the said photocopies<br />
given to the state office, the<br />
witness said: "We don't have the<br />
photocopies again. We have<br />
decongested our system."<br />
Counsel for Oyetola, Chief<br />
Akin Olujinmi (SAN)<br />
subsequently argued that the<br />
attitude of the REC was mainly<br />
not to obey the tribunal order<br />
issued to REC to produce the<br />
documents.<br />
Olujinmi said: "The REC is<br />
representing INEC here and he<br />
must obtain the said documents<br />
at their National Headquarters.<br />
He has not said that the National<br />
headquarters cannot find that<br />
document. So, he cannot excuse<br />
the duty of obedience to that<br />
Subpoena by his lame<br />
explanation that it was<br />
submitted to the national<br />
headquarters.<br />
"I will apply that your Lordship<br />
should direct the REC to approach<br />
the national headquarters and<br />
obtain the said documents. They<br />
had disobeyed the first order and<br />
if they like they should disobey<br />
the second order."<br />
Responding to the arguments,<br />
counsel for INEC, Professor<br />
Ananaba said: "The<br />
representative of REC is here and<br />
REC is different from INEC. So,<br />
the Subpoena has been complied<br />
with because the representative<br />
of REC is here to tell the court he<br />
is not in the custody of the said<br />
documents."<br />
But counsel for Adeleke,<br />
Ikpeazu said since the documents<br />
requested to be produced by the<br />
INEC are Certified True Copies,<br />
CTC, it can be applied and paid<br />
for, without necessarily bringing<br />
the REC to the court.<br />
The Tribunal adjourned the<br />
ruling on the argument of<br />
counsels on the failure of INEC<br />
to produce the said documents<br />
by Friday, November 25.<br />
Indian community, Rotary<br />
Club honour Gandhi<br />
LAGOS—TO celebrate the<br />
birth anniversary of the father<br />
of the Indian nation and peace<br />
icon, Gandhi Jayanti, the Indian<br />
Community in Lagos, in<br />
conjunction with the Rotary<br />
Club of Lagos Island, recently<br />
organised a blood donation camp,<br />
where pints of blood were<br />
generously donated at the<br />
Consulate General of India,<br />
Lagos.<br />
Describing the event as a<br />
momentous day, the Consulate<br />
General of India, Lagos, Mr<br />
Chandramouli Kern, said:<br />
"Indian community generally<br />
shows its gratefulness by<br />
organising such blood donation<br />
camps at regular intervals, and it<br />
has been the Rotarian culture to<br />
donate selflessly to society. A<br />
person in need of blood will<br />
understand that one pint can<br />
save lives."<br />
President of the Rotary Club<br />
of Lagos Island, Rotarian Anant<br />
Sabat, said: "We have conducted<br />
many blood donation camps<br />
before now."Over 100 persons<br />
turned out for the blood donation.<br />
President of the Indian<br />
Cultural Association of Nigeria,<br />
Sanjay Jain, whose members<br />
were predominantly donors at<br />
the blood donation camp,<br />
explained that the association,<br />
which clocked 50 years last year,<br />
is the apex of the Indian body in<br />
Nigeria.<br />
:@vanguardnews :@vanguardnews NEWS HOTLINES: 08052867023, 08052867058<br />
CONFERENCE: From left, Ondo State Governor and Chancellor of Owo Diocese, Arakunrin<br />
Oluwarotimi Akeredolu; Bishop of Owo Diocese, Revd Dr. Stephen Fagbemi; and his wife, Mrs Florence<br />
Fagbemi, during a press conference to announce the activities lined-up for the 40th anniversary of the<br />
Diocese.<br />
Kudirat Abiola killed on<br />
Al-Mustapha's order —Children<br />
•Al-Mustapha keeps mum<br />
LAGOS—THE children of the<br />
late Kudirat Abiola, yesterday,<br />
maintained that their mother<br />
was killed on the orders of the<br />
presidential candidate of the<br />
Action Alliance, Major Hamza<br />
Al-Mustapha (retd).<br />
Khafila Abiola, in a statement<br />
on behalf of Kudirat's children,<br />
was reacting to a statement<br />
attributed to Al-Mustapha,<br />
where he claimed that Vice<br />
President Yemi Osinbajo coerced<br />
Sergeant Jabila Mshiola, aka<br />
Sergeant Rogers, to implicate<br />
him (Al-Mustapha) during the<br />
1998 Oputa panel.<br />
Kudirat, the wife of late MKO<br />
Abiola, was assassinated on June<br />
4, 1996.<br />
At the panel, Sergeant Rogers<br />
confessed to have taken part in<br />
the assassination under Al-<br />
Mustapha's orders.<br />
Though Al-Mustapha was<br />
sentenced to death by hanging<br />
in 2012, he was later released by<br />
a court of appeal in Lagos.<br />
However, in a recent interview<br />
published by Sahara Reporters,<br />
Al-Mustapha had claimed that<br />
Osinbajo, the then Attorney<br />
General of Lagos, coached<br />
Sergeant Rogers on what to say<br />
to incriminate him (Al-<br />
Mustapha).<br />
But reacting to the interview,<br />
Kudirat Abiola's children, in a<br />
statement, said "Our attention<br />
has been drawn to a recent<br />
Ekiti Assembly crisis unacceptable<br />
—Elders, Olanipekun<br />
By Rotimi<br />
Ojomoyela<br />
ADO-EKITI—THE Ekiti<br />
Council of Elders and<br />
chairman, Body of Benchers,<br />
Wole Olanipekun, yesterday,<br />
condemned the crisis rocking the<br />
State Assembly saying it is<br />
unacceptable.<br />
They also urged the warring<br />
parties to sheath their swords and<br />
allow peace to reign.<br />
Recall that Mr Olugboyega<br />
Aribisogan was elected Speaker<br />
of the Ekiti State House of<br />
Assembly, last week, following<br />
the death of Mr Funminiyi Afuye<br />
but four days after his election,<br />
Aribisogan was impeached, while<br />
Mrs Olubunmi Adelugba was<br />
elected speaker.<br />
Reacting to the Assembly crisis,<br />
the Council, in a statement by<br />
its President and Secretary<br />
General, Messrs Joseph<br />
Oluwasanmi and Niyi Ajibulu,<br />
decried the unnecessary power<br />
tussle in the state legislature.<br />
The statement reads: "The<br />
Elder's Council implores the<br />
Assembly members to be<br />
peaceful and honourable in their<br />
dealings in the interest of the<br />
government and people of Ekiti<br />
State.<br />
"The Council, therefore,<br />
appeals to all interest parties and<br />
power brokers to allow<br />
democratic process in all their<br />
activities, that the installation of<br />
a new speaker should be done in<br />
a sombre manner rather than the<br />
needless imbroglio.<br />
"The Elders call on all Ekiti<br />
sons and daughters to always be<br />
Akungba chieftaincy tussle:<br />
Ole Ruling House tackles Ondo<br />
govt for disregarding court orders<br />
By Dayo Johnson<br />
AKURE—THE Alale of<br />
Akungba Chieftaincy tussle<br />
in Akoko South West, area of<br />
Ondo state, took a new<br />
dimension as the Ole Ruling<br />
House, yesterday, described the<br />
appointment of Oba Isaac Ajimo,<br />
by the state government as<br />
flagrant disobedience to a court<br />
order.<br />
The Alale stool became vacant<br />
in 2007.<br />
Counsel to the Agure and<br />
Mokun branch of the Ole ruling<br />
house, Mallam Gani Asiru, said<br />
that Oba Ajimo was appointed<br />
when the matter "was pending<br />
at the Court of Appeal, Akure,<br />
by the immediate past<br />
administration in the state."<br />
Asiru noted that the former<br />
governor, Olusegun Mimiko "in<br />
flagrant disobedience to the order<br />
of the court, went ahead to appoint<br />
Oba Isaac Sunday Ajimo<br />
as the Alale of Akungba.<br />
"It is this violation of rule of law<br />
that we are inviting and praying<br />
your Excellency to correct. The<br />
law is clear until set aside; the<br />
judgement of the court remains<br />
sacrosanct and must be obeyed.<br />
"However, the Ajimoh branch<br />
of the Ole ruling house went to<br />
court by the institution of Suit<br />
No. AK/195/2007 praying the<br />
court to stop the approval.<br />
"The Agure and Mokun<br />
counter-claimed. At the end of<br />
the trial, Ajimo's claims were<br />
dismissed and the reliefs<br />
contained in the counterclaim of<br />
our clients granted.<br />
"The court ordered that the<br />
government should not consider<br />
any list other than the one<br />
which produces Prince Isiaka<br />
Adu. "<br />
•Sue for peace<br />
guided by the ethos of<br />
Omoluwabi by which Ekiti is<br />
known for."<br />
Similarly, a former President of<br />
the Nigeria Bar Association,<br />
NBA, Mr Wole Olanipekun<br />
urged the warring factions to<br />
sheath their swords and embrace<br />
peace.<br />
Olanipekun described the<br />
ongoing conflict in the State<br />
Assembly as a threat to peace,<br />
order and good government of<br />
the state.<br />
His words: "As an elder and<br />
stakeholder in the state, I plead<br />
to all the feuding parties and their<br />
sponsors qua backers to sheath<br />
their swords. They should be<br />
reminded that the state does not<br />
belong to them alone but to all of<br />
us. The politicians are in the<br />
minority, hence they should stop<br />
seeing, taking and treating the<br />
State as their fiefdom, property<br />
or estate.<br />
"Now, my proposal to end this<br />
self-imposed crisis: Let the<br />
Speaker, freely elected by the<br />
legislators, Olugboyega<br />
Aribisogun be, while the Deputy<br />
Speaker, who was elected<br />
alongside the late Funminiyi<br />
Afuye retain his position.<br />
"To me, this is a win-win<br />
approach, and in my private<br />
discussions with some principal<br />
actors in the unwelcome drama,<br />
I have made this proposal, but<br />
politicians always, but wrongly<br />
believe that they possess the<br />
monopoly of wisdom.<br />
"Although the politicians<br />
behind the ongoing<br />
parliamentary fiasco in Ekiti may<br />
see it as business as usual, they<br />
should be told in no<br />
unmistakable language that it is<br />
a veritable threat to the peace,<br />
order and good government of<br />
the State, and unless nipped in<br />
the bud now or immediately, the<br />
consequences may be farreaching."<br />
statement made by Major<br />
Hamza Al-Mustapha.<br />
"In it, he accused the current<br />
Vice-President, Professor Yemi<br />
Osinbajo, SAN, of instigating<br />
Sergeant Rogers to falsely claim<br />
that he, Al-Mustapha, was<br />
behind the assassination of our<br />
mother, Alhaja Kudirat Abiola.<br />
"First of all, we all watched the<br />
proceedings of the Oputa Panel<br />
where Sergeant Rogers freely<br />
stated that he assassinated our<br />
mother and attempted to murder<br />
Senator Abraham Adesanya and<br />
Alex Ibru, late Publisher of The<br />
Guardian newspaper, based on<br />
the instructions given to him by<br />
Major Al-Mustapha.<br />
"The evidence of Sergeant<br />
Rogers was not challenged by Al-<br />
Mustapha and his lawyers at the<br />
Oputa Panel.<br />
"Second, the Lagos High<br />
Court convicted and sentenced<br />
the armed agents of Al-<br />
Mustapha to imprisonment for<br />
the attempted murder of Senator<br />
Abraham Adesanya.<br />
"Third, the Lagos State High<br />
Court also convicted and<br />
sentenced Al-Mustapha and his<br />
accomplices to death for the coldblooded<br />
murder of our mother.<br />
"Their subsequent acquittal by<br />
the Court of Appeal was most<br />
likely politically motivated. The<br />
appeal filed against the judgment<br />
is currently pending at the<br />
Supreme Court.<br />
"However, Al-Mustapha may<br />
be counting on the pervasive<br />
culture of impunity in Nigeria to<br />
not only attempt to deny his<br />
dastardly role in the<br />
assassination of a defenceless<br />
woman; but to also now<br />
contemplate running for office,<br />
along with Mohammed Abacha,<br />
who was alleged to have<br />
provided his driver to convey the<br />
assassins to carry out the<br />
mission.<br />
"Impunity lays waste to the<br />
promise of the democracy for<br />
which our dear mother paid the<br />
ultimate price.<br />
"As those that oversaw her<br />
assassination now seek to rewrite<br />
the history of what they did, we<br />
are forced to seek justice for our<br />
beloved mother within a<br />
jurisdiction not susceptible to the<br />
political games that hold sway in<br />
Nigeria.<br />
"Justice may be delayed but it<br />
must not be denied."<br />
Al-Mustapha keeps<br />
mum<br />
Efforts to get Al-Mustapha to<br />
react to the allegations proved<br />
abortive.<br />
C<br />
M<br />
Y