Osun Poll: Aregbesola Hits Back At Omisore, Says Petition Is Vague, Nebulous ARTICLE | SEPTEMBER 26, 2014 - 5:30AM | BY LARA ADEJORO Osun State governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, listed as the 1st Respondent in the petition of Senator Iyiola Omisore and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) against the victory of Aregbesola in the August 9 governorship election, has formally filed his reply. In the reply dated September 22, 2014, Aregbesola raised a preliminary objection to the competence of the petition. Governor Aregbesola argued that the petitioner had no locus standi to present this petition not having shown in the petition that he was validly a candidate at the election and the allegations contained in several paragraphs of the petition are vague, general, generic, not specific, speculative, omnibus, imprecise and nebulous. He also stated that several paragraphs of the petition raised a pre-election issue which the tribunal had no jurisdiction to entertain and that the grounds on which the petition is based are unknown to law, among others. Aregbesola further noted that the petitioner did not score up to 25 per cent of the lawful votes cast in each of the 30 local government areas of Osun and did not satisfy the provisions of the Constitution and the Electoral Act. Aregbesola, therefore, urged the tribunal to dismiss the petition in its entirety. On the allegation that Osun Youth Empowerment Scheme (OYES) cadets were used as ad hoc staff, the governor denied such allegation, adding that OYES was a volunteer scheme created to reduce unemployment among youths in the state irrespective of political affiliation. In support of the reply, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola listed 603 witnesses, comprising ordinary voters who volunteered to state what they witnessed across all the local governments being challenged by the petitioners.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 03:33:11 +0000