2011: Court bars Osun REC from conducting elections

Barely four days to National Assembly’s election, a Federal High Court in Osogbo has barred the Independent National Electoral Commission from allowing Osun State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr Oloruntoyin Akeju, to conduct the elections.

The Osun State Peoples Democratic Party had dragged INEC and Akeju before the court and claimed that being an indigene of Lagos State and having served under the Lagos State government, the REC was not likely to conduct credible polls in Osun State.

The PDP further alleged that Akeju, a former ambassador, was a “tacit supporter” of the Action Congress of Nigeria.

In his ruling in the PDP’s originating summons, Justice Babs Kuewumi, restrained the REC from conducting the April general elections just as he adjourned the matter till April 6.

The case had been fixed for Monday to enable INEC to file its defence after the PDP, which filed the originating summons on March 18. The party had argued its application last Thursday.

But when the case came up on Monday, lawyer to the PDP, Mr. Kehinde Adesiyan, told the court that INEC neither filed a defence nor made an appearance in court, stressing that the action was a deliberate ploy to frustrate the court.

Adesiyan consequently urged the court to grant the prayers of Osun PDP and restrain the defendants from using Akeju as the REC to conduct the April elections.

Justice Kuewumi thereafter restrained Akeju from conducting the election in Osun State and also restrained INEC from using him in Osun State as the REC in the coming elections.

Citing Section 14 (3) of the 3rd Schedule to the 1999 Constitution, the PDP sought for a declaration that Akeju could not impartially conduct or supervise the conduct of a credible election in Osun State in April 2011.

The PDP had claimed that based on the weighty allegations of bias levelled against Akeju, the court should order INEC to transfer him from Osun State to any other state.

The PDP also appealed to the court to order INEC to appoint a new REC, who would conduct and supervise the April elections in Osun State.

The party also sought an order of perpetual injunction restraining Akeju from conducting elections into various political positions in April 2011 in the state.

In a 28-paragraph affidavit in support of the originating summons which was deposed to by a member of the Elder Caucus of the Osun PDP, Major Raphael Towobola (retd), the PDP alleged that prior to the appointment of Akeju as REC, he had lived and worked in Lagos State as a Special Assistant in the administration of a former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

Akeju did not pick his call when our correspondent called his line at 3.51pm, on Monday for his reaction.

But commenting on the matter, the Director, Research and Strategy, Osun ACN, Mr. Sunday Akere, on Monday, said all RECs of the country were chosen by President Goodluck Jonathan, who is a PDP member.

Akere said, “The Osun PDP must be jittery because failure is imminent for the PDP in the oncoming election.

“The guiltys are afraid. They are crying wolf because they clearly see massive electoral failure on the horizon. They cannot believe the transformation Osun State has undergone in the last four months.

“Osun ACN can understand the confusion, despair and desperation within the Osun PDP camp. You can imagine a baby crying uncontrollably over spilled milk; the Osun PDP is a pitiable party weeping over a lost, mismanaged paradise.”