Press Conference
Gentlemen of the press, the National Working Committee (NWC) of the
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has invited you today to register the
fact that the PDP vehemently and unequivocally rejects the inclusion of
Hon. Justice J.O.K Oyewole as a member of the Osun State Governorship
Election Appeal Tribunal.
Our position is predicated on the fact that Hon. Justice Oyewole has
strong connections with the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is an
interested party in the Appeal.
In this regard, the PDP has already petitioned the President of the
Court, objecting to the inclusion of Hon Justice Oyewole in the appeal
panel based on the clear likelihood of his being biased against the
person of our candidate, Senator Ademola 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:
Hon. Justice Oyewole (JCA) 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 Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu, (the national leader of
the APC) while he (Tinubu) was the governor of Lagos State.
When the seat of the Chief Judge of Osun State became vacant, some years
back, upon the retirement of Hon. Justice G.O Ojo, Senator Ahmed Bola
Tinubu insisted on having his anointed candidate, Hon 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 (CJN), Justice Aloma Murktar to prevail that
the most senior judge of Osun state judiciary should be so appointed.
When a seat became vacant at the Court of Appeal, the name of Hon.
Justice Oyewole was pushed forward by Senator Tinubu, using the slot of
Osun State and thus, Justice Oyewole became Justice of the Court of
Appeal.
It is therefore a fact known to us and members of the public that Hon.
Justice Oyewole has a strong connection with the APC and its leader,
Senator Ahmed Tinubu. As such he should not sit as a panel member for a
governorship election dispute between the PDP and the APC.
Moreover, Hon. Justice J.O.K 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 Hon.
Justice J.O.K Oyewole to sit on the Appeal Panel. We are not assured
that justice will be done with Hon. Justice J.O.K Oyewole as a member of
the Panel.
As a party, we do not have confidence in Hon. Justice J.O.K Oyewole. So
the PDP vehemently objects to his inclusion, as he is likely to be
biased against our party and our candidate, Senator Ademola Adeleke.
The PDP therefore demands that the President of the Court of Appeal
immediately replace Hon. Justice J.O.K Oyewole with another justice of
the Court of Appeal, without any affiliation with 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
Hon. Justice J.O.K 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 the party
in the appeal.
Signed:
Kola Ologbondiyan
National Publicity Secretary
