ACN witnesses’ protest exposes judicial corruption — PDP

Again, the Peoples Democratic Party has condemned the declaration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola as the winner of April 14, 2007 governorship election by an Appeal Court that sat in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The latest condemnation came on the heels of a protest by several witnesses presented in court by Aregbesola during the governorship trial, which lasted over three years.

Aregbesola was declared as Osun governor by the court on November 26, 2010.

Numbering about 20, the witnesses, who recently protested in front of Osun State Governor’s Office, Abere, accused Aregbesola of neglecting them since assuming power.

The protesters delayed vehicular movement into the Governor’s Office, chanting songs and accusing Aregbesola of abandoning them.

A statement by the Chairman, Osun PDP, Alhaji Gani Olaoluwa, on Saturday, said the outburst of the witnesses showed that the victory of the ACN was bought at a price.

The statement said, “The protest by ACN witnesses at the government secretariat in Osogbo is the beginning of the end of the judiciary-imposed government of Aregbesola in Osun.”

Advising the “witnesses to seek the face of God for forgiveness,” Olaoluwa alleged that the disagreement between the government and the witnesses was “God’s way of exposing the cash-and-carry justice the ACN obtained to get to power.”

Olaoluwa, who also spoke with our correspondent in a telephone interview, said if the witnesses testified according to their consciences, they would not have demanded for gratification from the governor.

He said, “When a lie goes on for 20 years, the truth will catch up with it in a day. The truth has caught up with the purchased victory of the ACN. God has made them not to understand one another anymore.”

The Attorney General and Commissioner of Justice, Mr Wale Afolabi, however, told our correspondent that the government was looking into the plight of the protesting witnesses.

“They are our party members and they have the right to protest if they feel strongly about an issue. We are unlike the PDP that will stifle lawful protest, intimidate and maim their members,” Afolabi said.