The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Osun has issued a warning to Olasoji Adagunodo to withdraw the pending court case on the Osun PDP chairmanship tussle, Njenje Media News reports.
In a statement signed by the Osun PDP caretaker chairman, Akindele Adekunle in Osogbo on Saturday, the party in the warning, alleged that the case has been hijacked by the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Adagunodo, was a former PDP chairman in Osun before he was removed and his removal threw the state chapter of the party into uncertainty with two factions arising before peace was finally restored in 2021.
Adagunodo is now the PDP South West National Vice Chairman.
In the strongly worded statement, the party also alerted the public of the agenda by the state governor, Adegboyega Oyetola to truncate the swearing-in of Senator Ademola Adeleke as the Governor of Osun State on November 27, 2022.
The PDP which threatened all constitutional steps to actualise November 27 handover date warned of its readiness to petition the National Judicial Council on the apparent unprofessional conduct of the presiding judge, especially in the last sitting on the case.
“The PDP posited that Adagunodo has been cleared by the National Executive Committee of the PDP on some allegations during his party’s chairmanship and should therefore withdraw the case without further delay. The party had gathered on good authority that Hon Adagunodo claimed he was not issued an official letter of clearance by the party’s NEC, hence his continuation of the court processes.”
The statement which noted that the NEC clearance was the reason Adagunodo was able to contest and emerge as the South West National Vice Chairmanship of the PDP added that there is no further political or legal basis for non-withdrawal of the suit.
While justifying calls for the withdrawal of the suit, the PDP called the attention of the Vice Chairman South West to the fact that the case has emerged as the main tool of the All Progressive Congress (APC) to attempt a disruption of the November 27th, 2022 swearing-in ceremony.
“To avoid becoming part of the plot to scuttle the will of Osun people and to prove that he is indeed not available for the APC reactionary agenda, Hon Adagunodo should urgently kick-start the process of case withdrawal, the statement posited.”
Failure to close the case, the party warned will confirm allegations and alleged grand coalition among the APC, Adagunodo and a section of the judiciary to throw Osun into a constitutional crisis, a development the party vowed to legally resist.
It hinted that it has set machinery in motion to petition the NJC over the conduct of the presiding judge as his conduct at the last sitting echoed the boast on social media by Mr Oyetola’s supporters that November 27th, 2022 will not hold.
The statement concluded by saying “We are compiling all the observed unprofessional activities on this particular matter and we will duly approach the NJC. We want to strongly advise the state judicial leadership to be sensitive to the conduct of some of its officials. The judiciary should not allow itself to be used against the will of Osun people”
Reacting, the Osun APC Chairman, Gboyega Famodun called on the PDP to stop dragging the judiciary in the mud.
In a statement issued by Kola Olabisi, his Media Adviser, the Osun APC Chairman cautioned the PDP not to drag it and Governor Adegboyega Oyetola into whatever intra-party squabble the PDP may be contending with within its fold.
While recalling that there is a lingering legal issue between the former state chairman of the opposition party, Olasoji Adagunodo and the PDP in Ikire High Court being presided by Justice Sikiru Oke.
The state APC chairman observed that the avoidable noises by the state chapter of the PDP have been irritating and uncalled for.
“The PDP would not be the first and the last party to have won the first leg of a governorship election in Nigeria. Why is it that each time a court ruling does not favour them, the PDP has the habit of blaming either Governor Oyetola or the APC? The whole world should know that neither the APC nor Oyetola is interested in whatever fate that might have befallen the opposition party that is constantly afraid of its shadow because of the illegal luggage in its load?No amount of distraction from the pungently confused and disarrayed opposition party would prevent Governor Oyetola and the APC from pursuing the retrieval of the stolen governorship mandate from Senator Ademola Adeleke through the tribunal to a logical conclusion. If some people are fighting in House ‘A’, how is it the business of House ‘B’? The Osun PDP should put its house in order and stop its misplaced blame game of alleged bribery for litigation. It is barbaric for the PDP to drag the judiciary in the mud over the so-called governorship election victory of its candidate which is a subject of litigation at the ongoing election petition tribunal in Osogbo. The same judiciary they are casting aspersions on today had in the past given rulings/judgements in their favour. Therefore, their resort to mischief and blackmail all because they are afraid of their shadow would not deter us from pursuing our case at the tribunal. And we are confident that in the end, we will come out victorious. This is our own focus. We are less concerned about their internal wranglings. They should, therefore, spare us and the judiciary their usual diatribe” the APC chairman said.
