An Appeal Court in Akure has ruled that the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) for Osun State, Ambassador Oluwatoyin Akeju [Pictured, photo credit: PUNCH] was not eligible to conduct the 2011 Election. He was said to be partisan and unqualified to conduct the elections.
Justice M. I. Sheila, Friday who gave the lead judgment ruled that Akeju ought not to have presided over the elections in Osun State as the INEC REC.
All actions taken by Akeju as Osun INEC REC from February, 2011 till date have been invalidated. By this judgment, all elections conducted by INEC in Osun State in 2011 stand nullified!
Fresh elections are expected into the House of Assembly in Osun State, all Senators and Federal House of Reps. Also by the judgment of the Appeal court in Akure today, even Aregbesola’s election in invalid because Akeju participated in the processes leading to the election.
The PDP in Osun State had contested the propriety of Akeju, a former Personal Assistant to APC leader, Senator Bola Tinubu conducting the Osun State elections as INEC REC and secured a Court Injunction restraining Akeju from conducting the election.
However, in defiance to the Court Order, INEC went ahead to conduct the 2011 elections in Osun State, with Akeju as the REC.
Meanwhile, the All Progressives Congress has however expressed doubt at the authenticity of the judgment. The Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy of the APC in Osun State, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, said this in a statement he issued to react to the verdict.
Oyatomi said, “?This is a very funny development. A judgment of that magnitude and important to our democratic culture was to be delivered in Akure was unknown to anybody except Omisore’s PDP.
“Media correspondents in Akure only got the news of the so-called judgment from Omisore’s office in Osogbo. Something terribly sinister is going on here.
“It is even funnier still that when correspondents in Akure got the news from Omisore’s office in Osun, they rushed to the appeal Court to get the judgment, but the court was said to have closed for the day, after supposedly having delivered a judgment that was unknown to the public.
“We are only waiting to see the content of that judgment ?before we can make any comment.”
