Osun governorship: PDP rejects inclusion of Justice Oyewole in appeal panel

By Tunde Opalana, Abuja

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has rejected the inclusion of Justice J.O.K.

Oyewole as a member of the panel to hear the appeal of the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Jelili Oyetola against the declaration of Senator Ademola Adeleke of the PDP as Osun state governor- elect.

PDP National Working Committee (NWC) after its meeting at the party’s national headquarters, said it vehemently and unequivocally rejects the inclusion of Justice Oyewole as a member of the Osun state Governorship Election Appeal Tribunal.

The party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan at a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, said the PDP’s position was predicated on the fact that Justice Oyewole has strong connections with the APC which is an interested party in the appeal.

He said the party has already petitioned the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, objecting to the inclusion of Justice Oyewole in the appeal panel, based on the clear likelihood of his being biased against the person of its candidate, Sen. Adeleke and the PDP, under which he contested the 2018 Osun state governorship election.

“Our grounds of objection against Justice Oyewole’s membership of the appeal panel are as follows; Justice Oyewole is an indigene of Osun state and he had served as a high court judge of Lagos state and had thus served under the administration of Sen. Ahmed Bola Tinubu, (the national leader of the APC) while he (Tinubu) was the governor of the state.

“When the seat of the chief judge of Osun state became vacant, some years back, upon the retirement of Justice G.O. Ojo, Sen. Tinubu insisted on having his anointed candidate, Justice J.O.K Oyewole, on the judiciary of Osun state at all cost.

“It will be recalled that it took the courageous intervention of the then Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Aloma Murktar to prevail that the most senior judge of the Osun state judiciary should be so appointed.

“When a seat became vacant at the Court of Appeal, the name of Justice Oyewole was pushed forward by Tinubu, using the slot of Osun state and thus, Justice Oyewole became the justice of the Court of Appeal.

“It is therefore a fact known to us and members of the public that Justice Oyewole has a strong connection with the APC and its leader, Sen. Tinubu. As such, he should not sit as a panel member for a governorship election dispute between the PDP and the APC.

“Moreover, Justice Oyewole is from Osun state. The instant appeal is over the decision of the Osun state Governorship Tribunal. Given his connections with the APC, it will be most unsafe to allow him to sit on the appeal panel. We are not assured that justice will be done with Justice Oyewole as a member of the panel,” declared the PDP.

The PDP therefore, demanded that the president of the Court of Appeal immediately replace Justice Oyewole with another justice of the Court of Appeal, without any affiliation to Osun state, out of the over 90 eminent justices of the Court of Appeal.

“Our party and candidate holds that justice must not only be done, but also manifestly seen to be done in this matter. Indeed, an insistence on Justice Oyewole’s inclusion in the appeal panel may confirm our fears that his name could have been deliberately included, so that he can carry out a special assignment against our candidate and party in the appeal,” said Ologbondiyan.