Osun Guber Tussle: Appeal Court Sets Date For Hearing

Raulf-Aregbesola

Raulf Aregbesola

The Appeal Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, this morning fixed 3 November for  hearing in the substantive case in the appeal filed by the Action Congress of  Nigeria, ACN, governorship candidate in Osun State in the 2007 governorship  election, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola.

Raulf Aregbesola

At the resumed hearing of the appeal today, counsel to the police, Obisakin asked  for an extension of time to enable him file his response to the appeal.

The court granted his request and fixed 3 November for hearing.

Aregbesola filed the appeal against the verdict of the Justice Ali Garba retrial  tribunal on 28 May, 2010 which upheld the election of Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola  in the 14 April, 2007 governorship election.

In his 69 grounds of appeal, Aregbesola faulted the tribunal’s ruling that the  evidence given by his witnesses were mere allegations.

The Osun ACN candidate averred that the tribunal’s position resulted from the  confusion of pleadings with evidence, which inhibited the tribunal from doing  justice in the case.

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“The tribunal showed a complete misapprehension of the true and proper effect of a  witness statement on oath properly adopted as in this case, which represents the  testimony of the witness.

“Contrary to the holding of the tribunal, the evidence of the petitioners’ witnesses  abundantly established the allegations contained in the petition,” he stated.

Aregbesola said the witnesses were not shaken under cross examination in their  evidence, arguing that the tribunal ought to have accepted their evidence as proof  of the allegation in the petition.

He said the tribunal erred when it held that the evidence of non-counting of votes,  non-announcement of results and what happened at various polling units ought to have  come only from polling agents and not from the petitioners’ ward supervisors who  witnessed the events and failed to give proper consideration to the said evidence.

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