Declared Governor of Osun State; Supreme Court Gives Corrupt Ruling On Sokoto

Left: Former Governor of Osun State, Olagunsoye Oyinlola; (R), The new Governor, Rauf Aregbesola

By SaharaReporters, New York

Jubilation has broken out in the Osun State capital of Osogbo and throughout the state seconds after an electoral appeal tribunal sitting in Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, declared Rauf Aregbesola as the legitimate winner of the 2007 gubernatorial election in Osun.
There were also reports of skirmishes between supporters of Rauf  Aregbesola and those of deposed PDP governor, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, in Ikirun and parts of Ile-Ife.
The panel ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to issue a certificate to Mr. Aregbesola as the duly elected governor. Declaring current Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the PDP as an impostor, the appellate tribunal ordered his immediate vacation of office.
“It’s a glorious day for the judiciary,” exclaimed a lawyer who was in the court premises in Ibadan. As the lawyer spoke to Saharareporters, his voice was nearly drowned out by the songs and ululations of a crowd in the background.
Mr. Oyinlola’s removal marks another major setback for the PDP and former President Olusegun Obasanjo who in 2007 orchestrated one of the most shocking electoral hijacks in Nigeria’s history.
Mr. Aregbesola will now serve for four years as governor of Osun.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Supreme Court brought shame on itself and tainted the image of the judiciary with its ruling on an appeal before it over the planned ruling of the Court of Appeal deciding the governorship election in Sokoto State.
The apex court ruled that the appellate tribunal could not proceed with handing down its verdict in the case.
Saharareporters had documented how incumbent Governor Wamakko of Sokoto and his lawyers had induced Chief Justice Aloysius Katsina-Alu to intervene in the case in order to save Mr. Wamakko’s fraudulently acquired post.
The Supreme Court’s ruling drew instant condemnation from lawyers. One lawyer told Saharareporters that the apex court’s judgment, which struck out a case in the Court of Appeal where a final ruling had not been rendered, “was a first in the history of the judiciary in this country.” Another lawyer described the court’s ruling as “the worst form of judicial rascality by justices of the Supreme Court that I have ever seen.” Yet another lawyer, a senior advocate, said, “The Supreme Court’s ruling amounts to abortion of a full term pregnancy,” adding, “it is judicial murder.”

Source: saharareporters.com