Friday, March 29, 2024

A’Court verdict: PDP chieftain advises Oyetola against approaching Supreme Court

  • You can’t bully Oyetola to silence, ex-Gov’s media aide says

BY TIMOTHY AGBOR, OSOGBO

A former Deputy National Publicity Secretary, Diran Odeyemi, has advised former governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, to desist from causing unwarranted apprehension and tension by stopping further court process on the litigation against the victory of Governor Ademola Adeleke in the July 16 governorship election.

Recall that the Court of Appeal had set aside the judgement of the Osun Election Petition Tribunal and upheld the victory of Adeleke in the poll. Oyetola had hinted his intention of seeking further redress at the Supreme Court.

Addressing Oyetola in an open letter made available to The Point on Sunday, Odeyemi admonished Oyetola to allow sanity to prevail in the polity by halting his intention of approaching the apex court.

While advising Oyetola, Odeyemi said, “Your Excellency, though the final decision is yours but my advice to you will be to stop further court process and allow sanity to prevail in our polity. Apart from the waste of time and money on either side that the exercise would entail, the mounting hostility, unwarranted apprehension and insidious tension it is causing the people you love are beyond imagination.

“Should you be the one to heat-up the polity? No, not at all. You are too gentle and pious not to accept the will of Allah as occasion and circumstances would have dictated. You have been blessed above thousands of your contemporaries and have been a blessing to humanity.

“The history of Osun State would be incomplete without your tenure and persona occupying a whole chapter, to say the least. In Nigeria politics, and at the federal level, some roles still beckon. In the much-vaunted axiom of our elders: He who carries on his head a whole elephant must not be seen to be scathing the ground for crickets. In Osun State, having done your best, it is about time to leave the rest and indeed time to rest your case.

“Sir, there may be reasons to fight or challenge a course, or a cause for that matter. However, it is advisable to set a limit and expiration period. After all, he who fights and retreats as due is not a coward, but that who want to strategise for another battle. 2027 is around the corner for a rerun.

“Whatever is happening in Osun APC is about you and yourself. The unseen ones that may be encouraging you (push may sound rude) to fight on are the people we call “users” in political parlance. In most cases, it is the leaders that use the followers but in situations like this the followers always want to use the leader. Sir, show them that you are wise.

“Your Excellency, please be self-judgemental as this time calls for a sober reflection. May your name and image not be sacrificed to satisfy selfish and egocentric politicians. In your quiet moment, lock yourself in a room and ruminate, think in retrospect, dissect, review and reflect on your political fortunes, the unfortunate circumstances that caused the present misfortune. It is only when the cause of a sickness is known that an appropriate medication will be prescribed. I want you at this stage to project into the future with the mindset and believe in Allah that you will definitely rise up after this fall.

“As a student of politics, I know that election is about the people and politics is played as a game, the cumulative effects of a discord between you and your predecessor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is worthy of your consideration as a factor for APC calamities. As you rightly know, a house divided against itself is bound to fall, and the inhabitants are bound to perish in the debris,” he said.

Meanwhile, spokesperson to Oyetola, Ismail Omipidan, has described the opinion by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, asking his principal not to explore the option of going to the Supreme Court as an attempt to bully him and his supporters to silence, insisting such a piece of advice and opinion were in bad taste.

He also challenged HURIWA to provide any material, whether in print or in broadcast form, that suggested that his principal ever engaged in any verbal war since the litigation began in August last year.

“The association should direct its charge of verbal war at the Osun PDP and the governor, Senator Ademola Adeleke, who not only tried to incite the public against the judiciary after the January 27 Tribunal judgement sacking them, but use several unprintable words to describe members of the Tribunal for the reason that the judgement did not favour them,” he said.

Omipidan further said, “After the January 27 Tribunal judgement sacking Senator Ademola Adeleke, under 24 hours, they issued four press statements, including a state broadcast by the governor, casting aspersions on the Tribunal. I did not hear a word of condemnation from HURIWA when the PDP specifically called members of the Tribunal ‘hired mercineries’ who ‘waybilled’ a judgement that was allegedly paid for.

“But in the case of my Principal, in spite of the fact that last Friday’s Appeal Court judgement did not go his way, he reinstated his belief in the judiciary to do justice in the matter and expressed his willingness to test the decision of the appellate court at the Supreme Court. Is that the kind of person you accuse of engaging in verbal war?

“At any rate, as a layman in law, I believe that the Supreme Court’s resolution of issue of voter register vis-a-vis the relevance of the register to prove over-voting in the era of BVAS will no doubt further deepen our legal jurisprudence on Electoral matters, especially taking into cognisance Sections 47, 51 and 64 of the Electoral Act 2022.”

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