Osun REC crisis: PDP’s counsel writes Jega

The controversy over the status of the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State is showing no sign of abating as the counsel for the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Kehinde Adesiyan, has written Professor Attahiru Jega, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) chairman.
In a letter dated July 15, Mr Adesiyan viewed with shock “the letter your commission wrote to the Editor-in-Chief of the Tribune Newspapers signed by one Mr Kayode Idowu where he made strenuous attempt to justify the impunity surrounding the wilful disobedience of the lawful order of the Federal High Court, Osogbo Division made on the 28 March, 2011 by your commission.’’

The counsel said he decided to write the letter due to the distortion in the presentation of the letter, affirming that “everything I am saying in this letter could be cross checked from both the lower and appellate courts and from my highly respected senior counsel that is representing your commission in person of Ahmed Raji (SAN).

“I read with dismay the extraction that your commission denied the existence of the court order barring you from using Ambassador Oluwatooyin Akeju as the Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State for the purpose of the general election of April, 2011,” noting that “I must first correct that the order I am talking about was granted on 28 March, 2011 and not 23 March, 2011 that you erroneously referred to in your letter.”

Faulting the commission for declaring that the order of injunction granted by the lower court is in abeyance, Adesiyan said such “interpretation of yours as it relates to this case in the Federal High Court is flawed in every material particular relating to this case.”

The counsel affirmed that the Federal High Court, Osogbo Division did not make any order in respect of this case staying the execution of its own valid order, adding that the “the application for stay of execution filed by INEC’s counsel, Ahmed Raji SAN, has not been argued and remains pending before the Federal High Court till date.

He stated that the order for stay of proceedings made by the Federal High Court on May 31, 2012 only put in abeyance all further proceedings relating to the substantive suit before the court and not the order of 28 March, 2011 that INEC violated with impunity.

“The order of the Federal High Court restraining you and your commission from using Ambassador Oluwatooyin Akeju as Resident Electoral Commissioner for Osun State for the purpose of the general election of April 2011 remains valid, hesitant during the conduct of the said elections and has not been set aside by any competent court in Nigeria till date,” the PDP counsel said.

The PDP lawyer affirmed further in the letter that “your appeal against the order of the Federal High Court is still pending in the Court of Appeal, Akure in Appeal No CA/AK/46/2011 and same had been adjourned to Tuesday, 26 of November, 2013 for hearing.”

Citing Jega’s pedigree in activism and orderliness, the counseI said the handling of the Osun REC matter showed that either the chairman was not properly briefed “or there was a grand design by some fifth columnists hawking around your commission to subvert the course of justice and the will of the teeming people of Osun State.

“One would have thought that instead of encouraging your counsel to appeal against the order, your commission should have simply transferred Ambassador Oluwatooyin Akeju to another state to confirm clearly your commission’s fairness and integrity in the polls,”the lawyer said in the letter.

Also citing relevant Supreme Court rulings, the PDP lawyer said “a judgment or order of a competent court is meant to be respected and obeyed,’’ adding that “this is because the dignity, honour and integrity of the court cannot be maintained if its orders are treated disdainfully and scornfully as done in this case.”

Source: Tribune