19th October, 2010
The Appeal Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State, this morning fixed 3 November for hearing in the substantive case in the appeal filed by the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, governorship candidate in Osun State in the 2007 governorship election, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola.
At the resumed hearing of the appeal today, counsel to the police, Obisakin asked for an extension of time to enable him file his response to the appeal.
The court granted his request and fixed 3 November for hearing.
Aregbesola filed the appeal against the verdict of the Justice Ali Garba retrial tribunal on 28 May, 2010 which upheld the election of Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola in the 14 April, 2007 governorship election.
In his 69 grounds of appeal, Aregbesola faulted the tribunal’s ruling that the evidence given by his witnesses were mere allegations.
The Osun ACN candidate averred that the tribunal’s position resulted from the confusion of pleadings with evidence, which inhibited the tribunal from doing justice in the case.
“The tribunal showed a complete misapprehension of the true and proper effect of a witness statement on oath properly adopted as in this case, which represents the testimony of the witness.
“Contrary to the holding of the tribunal, the evidence of the petitioners’ witnesses abundantly established the allegations contained in the petition,†he stated.
Aregbesola said the witnesses were not shaken under cross examination in their evidence, arguing that the tribunal ought to have accepted their evidence as proof of the allegation in the petition.
He said the tribunal erred when it held that the evidence of non-counting of votes, non-announcement of results and what happened at various polling units ought to have come only from polling agents and not from the petitioners’ ward supervisors who witnessed the events and failed to give proper consideration to the said evidence.