VOL. 9. NO.107 NNNNN5050505050SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

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Front Page Comment

•The governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (right) in a handshake with the Team Leader of Independent CorruptPractices Commission (ICPC), Professor Olu Aina (left), while other members of the commission watch during a courtesy visit to thegovernor in his office at State Secretariat, Abere, last Tuesday. Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI.

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You’re A Liar- INEC Tells Osun PDP

•Says EOs Didn’t Collude With APC To Rig Osun Election

Aregbesola Is Best Performing Governor - ICPCPoverty Is The Brain Of Corruption In Nigeria - Aregbesola

Publication Of Falsehood On Aug 9 Election:

Osun: HowPDP DistortedFacts OverINEC EOsSuspension

Foreign Links’StudentsComplain OfSchool’s InabilityTo Fulfil PromiseOsun Election:Corps MemberAlleges Attack,Assault ByPolicemen

The victory of the AllProgressives Con-gress, APC in lastSaturday’s gubernato-rial election in OsunState reinforces theopposition against aseemingly rampagingpolitical train ofPresident GoodluckJonathan

It was a welcomerelief to the nationalleader of the APC,Asiwaju BolaAhmed Tinubu.Those who saw himyesterday morningasthe result of theOsun State gover-norship

Osun and 2015: Thegame changerpoll was declared saidthey saw a man greatlyrelieved but reinforcedfor the battleahead.Besides being anelixir to the oppositionthat was badly

traumatized by defeatin Ekiti a month ago,the Osunvictory actsas a spring for theopposition towardsthe 2015

presidential prizethat was beingconsidered a fore-gone booty of theruling PeoplesDemocratic Party,PDP. The messageyesterday was that2015 is stillwithinplay. Despite earlierclaims by the

APC that the presi-dency was deter-mined to rig theelection in favour ofthe PDP’s SenatorIyiola Omisore, theoutcome of theelection showed thelimit to which Presi-dent GoodluckJonathan would go inforcing his will on the

Continue on pg5

2 OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014News

•An ongoing school building at Osogbo Grammar School, Osogbo, under the administration of Governor RaufAregbesola, as captured by GBENGA ADENIYI, recently.

You’re A Liar - INEC Tells Osun PDP•Says EOs Didn’t Collude With APC To Rig Osun Election

By KAZEEM MOHAMMED

EFFORTS by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)to feed the public with falsehood has failed again asthe Independent National Electoral Commission

(INEC) has said its two suspended electoral officers didnot collude with the All Progressives Congress (APC) torig the August 9, 2014 governorship election.

The electoral officer ofOsogbo Local GovernmentCouncil Area, Mr FunshoTope Fabunmi and hisObokun counterpart, Mr.Anthony OlusegunEsinoye, were suspended

on Monday for what thecommission calledadministrative lapses.

Few hours after theirsuspension, the PDP,through one of its cronies,gathered some selected

journalists and fed them withfalsehood that the officerswere suspended forcolluding with the APC tomanipulate the poll, the reportthat was widely published bysome national dailies.

However, INEC, in astatement issued by itsChief Public Affairs Officerin Osun, Mrs AdenikeTadese, said the suspendedofficers were not culpable ofselling ballot papers to theAPC or manipulating FormEC8C to favour the APC,

neither did they void thePDP votes and counted infavour of the APC, asspeculated by the PDP in themedia.

It reads: “It is pertinent toclarify and also set therecord straight that the twoElectoral Officers, MrFunsho Tope Fabunmi(Osogbo Local GovernmentCouncil Area) and Mr.Anthony Olusegun Esinoye(Obokun Local GovernmentCouncil Area) were notsuspended based on

alleged collusion with theAPC to manipulate electoralprocess in favour of theparty in Osogbo andObokun council areasrespectively.

“They were neitherculpable of selling ballotpapers to the APC nor formanipulation of Form EC8Cto favour the APC andvoiding of PDP votes,counted in favour of theAPC.

“Mr Fabunmi wassuspended based onadministrative lapsesoccasioned in the course ofdischarging his duties.

“Mr. Esinoye, on 7thAugust 2014 was alleged bythe people of Obokun LocalGovernment Council Area ofdiverting sensitive electionmaterials and was arrestedby the Police.

“A press release wasimmediately issued tocorrect the spuriousallegation that non-sensitive materials, whichwere supposed to bedeployed alongside withthe sensitive materials wereerroneously taken to theRegistration Area Centrealong with materials meantfor the setting up of thecentre by the Assistant

Executive Officer of the localgovernment council area,while the Electoral Officerwas at the state office of thecommission in Osogbo forthe collection of thesensitive election materialsin the presence of securityand political party agents.

“It was at the point ofretrieval of the non-sensitive materials that theresidents of the areaaccosted him and raisedalarm that drew the attentionof the Police.

“It is important at thispoint to emphasise thatINEC headquarters did notfind the electoral officersculpable of working for theAPC to rig the election, aspurported by the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP).

“We strongly believe thatthe stories in the dailieswere part of a grand designto cast aspersion on theintegrity of INEC.

“It is our wish to stateunequivocally that INECwill always be forthright,transparent and alive to herresponsibilities and havezero-tolerance forindiscipline and will bringerring officers to book,” thestatement read.

Aregbesola Is Best Performing Governor - ICPCPoverty Is The Brain Of Corruption In Nigeria - Aregbesola

By KEHINDE AYANTUNJI

THE Independent Corrupt Practices Commission(ICPC) on Monday described the governor of theState of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, as the best-

performing governor in Nigeria with his pro-people’spolicies and transparency in governance.

The commission said itexpected the governor to bemore proactive in alleviatingpoverty in the state and bemore efficient in themanagement of publicresources during hissecond term.

ICPC team led by thecommission board SouthWest Representative,Professor Olu Aina, said thisduring a courtesy visit to thegovernor in his office onTuesday in Osogbo, thestate capital.

Aina said: “Mr Governor,you are one of the fewindividuals we havevoluntarily visited, not forinterrogation but as themost-performing governorin Nigeria this year.

“As part of our re-organisation in ICPC, we aregiving serious attention toeducation. After criticalexamination of variouscases before us, weconsidered education andorientation as mostimportant aspects of our waragainst corruption and youwill recall that you were

invited to the commissionoffice before, as a result ofvalue you place oneducation. We have theprivilege to honour youagain for your commitmentto banish poverty througheducation.”

He also presented aletter of request from thecommission to the governorfor the allocation of land tobuild a new office to expandthe operations of ICPC inOsun and congratulated thegovernor for his re-election.

Responding, GovernorAregbesola, who describedpoverty as the brain ofcorruption, said the mostimportant aspect of waragainst corruption iseducation to restore humanand societal values, addingthat corruption has becomea way of life in Nigeria.

He said: “There cannotbe a fresh and stimulatingopportunity than what Ihave today, which is the firstday I resumed office afterelection. I commend thenew philosophy of ICPC to

enlighten, educate and re-orientate all of us to shuncorruption. As much as Iagree with punishment,education is critical to thewar against corruption.”

“The first step to eliminateit, is to educate us againstthe danger it poses to oursociety. However, povertycannot be divorced fromcorruption. Poverty is acondition of existence,where society does notmatter to you, when you arenot even conscious of yourenvironment.

“That is why we arestruggling to put in place agoverning system that willguarantee for the peoplewhat Awolowo soughtseriously to make a way oflife. Starting from our regionto the nation, we havesucceed in repeating thoseprogrammes here, which isthe cradle of our party;freedom for all, life moreabundant. This is our party’svision for the people topursue their legitimate desireand vision.”

Aregbesola said thestance of his governmenttowards the people earnedhim the victory in the lastgovernorship election,despite intimidation withfederal might.

“For those who monitor

the just-concluded election;considering the weakness ofour own structure and thestrength of the majoropposition, we stood nochance on our own, but forthe unimaginable support ofthe masses, it wasimpossible for any harm tocome to us. That was thereason we wonconveniently. Therefore, wehave no excuse not to standby the people.

“The welfare of the publicis their interest and in ademocracy you have nochoice than to tailor everyaspect of government’sdirection to meet the desireof the people. That is whywhen the securityoperatives, who woremasks, were shootingsporadically, the peoplewere waving brooms thatthey were for us andnothing could change theirmind,” Aregbesola said.

He added that hisadministration will continuethe O’ Meal, which isproviding nutrition forschool children and providejobs for the people,including OYES amongothers, saying hisadministration will stop atnothing to make life moreabundant for the people.

Foreign Links’ StudentsComplain Of School’sInability To Fulfil Promise

INSPITE of the added advantage of going toDeltas University College, Ghana for a monthas part of fulfillment for their academic studies,

the management of Foreign Link Campus Collegeof Education at Moro in Ife-North LocalGovernment Council Area of State of Osun, hasfailed to live up to expectation.

According to insideinformation reaching themedium, it was revealedthat the students, many ofwhom were attracted tothe institution by thefantasy of travelling toGhana for a month, weredevastated when they hadspent the required numberof years without theschool making preparationfor the trip.

The source revealed thatthe bubble burst last year,2013, when the studentsreminded the school aboutthe Ghana trip and theschool management couldnot offer any explanation.

On demand, theinstitution’s management,in order to forestall anystudents’ demonstration,hurriedly sent a batch ofthe students to Ghana butnot to Deltas University,but to another pre-arranged destination.

On getting to Ghana, thestudents were surprisedthat the school couldn’tmeet up with their ownpart of the deal, as theywere not hosted at DeltasUniversity College, but atanother institution.

Some of the students

who spoke with OSUND E F E N D E R ,corroborated this andconfirmed that initially, theauthority of the institutiondid not plan to take themto Ghana, and not until thestudents put pressure onthem, before theyeventually took steps butto another destination inGhana instead.

They however statedthat the students had goneto Ghana last year but wereyet to make another thisyear.

Reports also reachingthis medium revealed thatsalaries and allowances ofstaff are not paid as andwhen due; a developmentwhich had made many ofthe workers in the schoolto embark on massexodus in search of othermeans of livelihood.

The school managementhad reportedly not paid themembers of staff backlogof salaries accumulatedover the years.

Some students whoconfirmed this stated thatmost of the qualified handshave sought other optionsin order to survive.

By OUR REPORTER

3 News OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014

If you have a story or advert for us, contact 08033927286, 08033880205, 08061197897, 08023191891.

•Front view of convenience and restaurant building at Ayegbaju Market in Osogbo, State of Osun, constructed underthe administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI.

By KEHINDE AYANTUNJI

Osun Heads Of Agencies Felicitate With Aregbesola

THE heads of government agencies and parastatalsin the State of Osun on Wednesday felicitated withthe governor of the state, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola,

on his re-election for a second term in office.

The government heads ofagencies described thevictory of the governor as apool of victory for thepeople of the state anddemocracy in Nigeria,saying it was a vindicationthat good performance hasreward from the people.

General Manager OsunState Waste ManagementAgency, Alhaji GaniyuOyeladun, who led thedelegation of Forum ofGeneral Managers,Directors General andExecutive Secretaries in thestate to the GovernmentHouse, Oke-fia, Osogbo,the state capital, to felicitatewith the governor, whilepledging their support to hisadministration.

According to him, thegovernor’s first term hasplaced Osun at anirreversible level, byresuscitating and fundingof government agencies toimprove provision of social

services to the people,which has made life betterfor all in the state.

He stressed thatGovernor Aregbesola’sadministration’s style hasrestored public confidencein government agencies andpromote efficiency in public

services, which has movedgovernment much closer tothe people.

He assured the governorthat the heads of agencieswould continue to workhard with the governor toensure that the people ofthe state enjoy dividends ofdemocracy.

The Chief of Staff to theGovernor, Alhaji GboyegaOyetola, who hosted theheads of agencies in hisresidence, appreciated the

visit and described it asremarkable in charting a newcourse for the state.

Oyetola commended themfor recognising the giantstrides of the currentadministration in close tofour years and thedevelopment recorded sofar, which according to him,was a clear departure fromthe old trend.

He said the victory in thejust-concluded election wasthe wish of God,

considering the level ofintimidation andsuppression with federalmight.

Oyetola commended thepeople of the state, whostood their ground beforeand during the election andadmonished the people tosustain that spirit insupporting GovernorAregbesola to succeed inoffice during his secondterm.

He challenged the heads

of the agencies to prepare formore tasks during the secondterm, adding that thegovernor is determined tofulfil all his electioneeringcampaign promises to thepeople.

The Director General,Osun State BroadcastingCommission, Prince SojiFadehan and other heads ofagencies were among thedelegation to theGovernment House.

Osun Election: Corps Member Alleges Attack, Assault By PolicemenBy ISMAEEL UTHMAN

A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member,Mubibau Adekunle Yahaya, has accused men of theNigeria Police Force of assaulting him during the

last governorship election in the State of Osun.Yahaya in a petition

before the Osun StandingCommission on PublicDisturbance of Peace, onWednesday in Osogbo, thestate capital, alleged that hewas beaten blue black bysome policemen on theelection day.

Yahaya was one of thecorps members used by theIndependent National

Electoral Commission(INEC) and posted to OyereVillage in Ife-North LocalGovernment Council Areaof the state, for the election.

Though, the petition hasnot been opened forhearing before the panel,Yahaya told the commissionthat he was ready toprosecute his case.

Counsel to the police, Mr

Promise Akanwa,acknowledged the receipt ofYahaya’s petition, sayingthat the State Commissionerof Police, Mr IbrahimMaishanu, has taken up thematter.

Akanwa, a DeputySuperintendent of Police(DSP), informed the panelthat Maishanu had paradedsome policemen beforeYahaya for identificationsome days ago.

The counsel added thatYahaya was unable toidentify the policemen thatallegedly beat him among

the paraded police officers.However, Yahaya

insisted that he couldidentify the policemen thatbeat him on the cause of hisduty, saying that the Policeinfringed on hisfundamental rights.

Chairman of the panel,Justice Moshood Adeigbe,urged the Police to file theirreaction to the petition

before the next adjourneddate.

Adeigbe sympathisedwith the petitioner, wholooked pale, promising thatthe panel would look at allthe evidence before it andmake necessaryrecommendations to thegovernment.

The case was adjournedtill September 17, 2014.

Adeleke To Appear BeforePanel Of Enquiry On Sept 17

By ISMAEEL UTHMAN

SENATOR Isiaka Adeleke has been billed to appearbefore the Osun Panel of Enquiry on Disturbance ofPublic Peace on September 17, 2014 to open his case

against the Minister of Police Affairs, Alhaji JeliliAdesiyan, and his aide, Sogo Agboola.

Adeleke’s appearancecame on the heel of serviceof hearing notice and writof summon served onAdesiyan and Agboolathrough courier service, asdirected by the commission.

The Justice MoshoodAdeigbe-led panel grantedAdeleke the leave to openhis case, when the casecame up on Wednesday,when his counsel, Mr LekanOlayiwola, informed thepanel that the respondentshad been served the Noticeof Summon and Hearingthrough a courier service.

Olayiwola said the duo ofAdesiyan and Agboola hadbeen notified and wereaware of the sitting of thecommission.

The counsel stated thatsince the respondents had

been served the notices, thestage has been set for thepanel to hear the matter.

The commission had,during its previous sitting,ordered that Adesiyan andAgboola be served thenotices through either DHLcourier service or through apublication in The PUNCHand/or OSUN DEFENDERnewspapers.

However, the commissiongranted Adeleke the leave toopen his case and adopt hispetition before it onSeptember 17, 2014.

Adeleke had draggedAdesiyan, Agboola and thedefeated governorshipcandidate of the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP),Senator Iyiola Omisore, tothe commission on theallegation of assault,harassment and threat at aPDP stakeholders’ meetingheld at Ideal Nest Hotel onMay 3, 2014 in Osogbo.

However, Omisore hasapproached an Osogbo HighCourt to stop his appearancebefore the commission. Thecase was yet to be decidedas at the time of filing thisreport.

Osun 2014: Accord Party Presents 91-page Petition, Prays CourtTo Invalidate Election In 30 LGAs

THE Accord Party (AP) governorship candidate in thelast gubernatorial election in the State of Osun,Barrister Niyi Owolade, has filed a 91-page petition

to challenge the victory and success of the All ProgressiveCongress (APC)’s governorship candidate, Ogbeni RaufAregbesola, at the poll.

Owolade alleged in his 91-page petition that thegovernorship election heldon August 9, 2014 in thestate was characterised byirregularities, whileexpressing optimism that hewould win the election ifprivileged to be re-conducted.

The petitioner, who wasa former Attorney-Generaland Commissioner forJustice in the state, wasseeking the order of thetribunal to invalidate theelection that was conductedin the 30 local governmentcouncil areas of the state

Owolade added by

asking the tribunal to orderthe Independent NationalElectoral Commission(INEC) to re-conduct a newelection into the office of theGovernor of the State ofOsun

He claimed further thatthe third respondent,Independent NationalElectoral Commission(INEC), had collaboratedwith the first and secondrespondents, Ogbeni RaufAregbesola and the party,All Progressives Congress(APC), to rig the just-concluded governorshipelection.

The petitioner swore to

the 91-page petition onSaturday, August 30, 2014at the registry of Osun StateGovernorship ElectionPetition Tribunal.

The Secretary of the

tribunal, Mr AdamuMuhammed Aliyu, onreceiving the petition file,promised that the tribunalwould discharge its dutieswithout any fear or to favouranyone.

Aliyu added that thePeoples Democratic Party

(PDP) candidate, SenatorIyiola Omisore, had filed hisown petition, also seekingan order of the tribunal tonullify election in 17 localgovernment council areasand declare him winner ofthe August 9 election in theState of Osun

Teenager In Court Over Robbery

ONE Abdulkareem Ismail, 18, was last Wednesdayarraigned before an Osogbo Magistrate’s Court overalleged case of robbery.

The charge sheet read in theopen court disclosed that theaccused person stole the sumof N690,000 being property ofone Alhaji Akinkumi Alabi.

It was further clarified thatthe offence is contrary to andpunishable under Section 390(9) of the Criminal Code cap.34vol. 11 laws of Osun StateNigeria 2003.

According to the charge

sheet, the accused personcommitted the offence onSeptember 1, 2014 at Suite 205,Olatundun Plaza, Igbona inOsogbo, the State of Osuncapital at about 9.00am.

However, the suspectpleaded not guilty to the chargepreferred against him when itwas read to him.

Defence counsel, BarristerA. Sanusi, urged the court to

grant the accused person bailon the ground that the offencewas bailable and that under theConstitution, the accused isassumed to be innocent untilcontrary is proved in the courtof law.

The defence counsel alsodisclosed that the accusedperson would not jump bail ifgranted and would be presentat the court to prove hisinnocence on the allegationlevelled against him, addingthat he would provide crediblesurety to guarantee hisreadiness to face trial.

Police prosecutor, InspectorIsiaka Ajadi, in his appearance,did not oppose the bailapplication, saying the courthad the discretional right overbail.

Presiding magistrate, MrsHabibat Basiru, granted theaccused person bail in the sumof N200,000 with two sureties,who must be residents withinthe court’s jurisdiction and mustalso possess tax clearancecertificates.

The magistrate thereforeadjourned the case tillNovember 5, 2014 for mention.

By LATEEFAT ADEPOJU

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 20144 News

•A multipurpose hall at Ilare Elementary School in Ile-Ife, State of Osun constructed under the administration ofGovernor Rauf Aregbesola. Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI.

Osun: How PDP Distorted Facts Over INEC EOs SuspensionBy KAZEEM MOHAMMED

EMERGING facts over the suspended IndependentNational Electoral Commission (INEC) ElectoralOfficers of Obokun and Osogbo Local Government

Council areas of the State of Osun have shown that thePeoples Democratic Party (PDP) has distorted facts over itsfailed plot to rig the August 9, 2014 governorship election.

It was reported in somenational dailies on Wednesdaythat a PDP source informedjournalists that the EOs weresuspended because theycolluded with the AllProgressives Congress (APC)to manipulate the electoralprocess in the two councilareas.

It was however, reliablygathered that it was membersof APC that reported to thepolice and instigated the arrestof the electoral officers whiledistributing sensitive election

materials to polling units onthe alleged order of EO ofObokun Local GovernmentCouncil Area on the eve of theelection.

An eye witness recountedthat he was in the house of anAPC leader at Otan-Ile at about10.00 pm of Thursday, August7 when he saw a pick-up vandriven into a primary schooland quickly moved closer to theschool to find out what washappening.

Pretending to be the securityman for the school, the witness

said, he caught the INECofficials, off-loading theelection materials from thevehicle and challenged them.

He said that when the INECofficials could not offer anyexplanation, he created a scene,a situation that prompted hotarguments and attracted agileyouths around, who in a jiffygathered to assist the witness.

The Obokun DivisionalPolice Station in Ibokun,according to the witness, wasquickly alerted and somepolicemen came to arrest thesuspects with the pick-up vancontaining the materials.

Also, the APC CollationAgent for Obokun LocalGovernment Council Area, MrAgbaje Olajide, revealed thatthe EO, himself and agents ofother political parties, including

the PDP, went to the INECheadquarters in Osogbo onAugust 7 to collect the electionmaterials and when they gotback to Obokun INEC around8:30pm in company of somepolice officers, they all agreedto come back the followingmorning of August 8 todistribute the materials to thewards and polling unitsbecause it was late.

He stressed that he was latercontacted on phone later in thenight that some INEC officialshad been arrested whiledistributing the materials, asituation that propelled him toalso move down to the policestation.

On getting to the policestation, Agbaje recounted thathe queried the EO on the initialagreement and he confirmed

before the Divisional CrimeOfficer (DCO) in Obokun thatthey all agreed to distribute thematerials the followingmorning.

He narrated that theCommissioner of Police in-charge of the election in IjesaZone later came with a policeofficer to the police station,handcuffed the EO and thedriver of the pick-up van andwhisked them away to theSCIB, Osogbo after theirstatements had been taken.

According to him, nothingwas heard on the matter again,as the issue was said to havebeen buried based on an orderfrom above.

The EO was later released

and returned to Obokun toconduct the same election.

The INEC later spoke onthe matter and claimed thatnon-sensitive materials, whichwere supposed to be deployedalongside with the sensitivematerials were onlyerroneously taken to theRegistration Area Centre alongwith the materials meant for thesetting up of the centre by theAssistant Electoral Officer ofthe council area, while theElectoral Officer was at thestate office of the commissionin Osogbo for the collection ofthe sensitive election materialsin the presence of security andpolitical party agents.

Reps Aspirant Faults Osun PDP OverPropagation Of Falsehood

WORRIED by the lying culture of State of Osunchapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress

(APC) in Ijesaland, Architect Babatunde Ojo Desmond,has cautioned the PDP and its handlers in the state todesist from dishing out falsehood to the people of the statein the spirit of sustainability of the reigning peace in thestate.

Ojo who spoke withOSUN DEFENDER throughtelephone on Thursday saiddecent politics could still bedone without necessarilyembracing falsehood by theopposition in order to gainundue upper hand inpoliticking.

The APC chieftain who iseyeing election into Oriade/Obokun FederalConstituency in the Houseof Representativesobserved that the rate atwhich the oppositionresulted to propagation offalsehood before, duringand after the August 9, 2014governorship election, wasalarming.

He noted that the PDPwas fond of accusing theAPC of criminal activities itsagents and political thugswere perpetrating onmembers of the APC in thestate.

Ojo could not see anyreason why the PDP should

embrace falsehood anddistortion of facts toadvance its cause, addingthat it’s only once that ahunter who kills an elephantwith an ordinary cap isfamous for his action.

He cautioned theleadership of the party tostop not playing politicsaccording to the rulebecause of theinterconnectivity of theparty at the Federal level.

It would be recalled thatthe leadership of the PDPjust woke up on Tuesday,telling the world that twoelectoral officers whoallegedly worked for theAPC during the Osungovernorship election, hadbeen suspended by theINEC authority in the state.

Refuting the allegation inOsogbo on Wednesday, theINEC through its ChiefPublic Affairs Officer, MrsAdenike Tadese, said thestory extensively

propagated by the PDP wasfalse, as only one of theaffected officers wassuspended foradministrative lapses.

In a press statement,Tadese said it wasimperative to correcterroneous impressioncreated over the pages ofthe newspapers concerningthe suspension of two INECofficers over allegedelectoral fraud during theAugust 9 governorshipelection.

Her words: “It ispertinent to clarify and alsoset the record straight thatthe two electoral officers(EO), Mr Funsho TopeFabunmi (Osogbo LocalGovernment) and MrAnthony Olusegun Esinoye(Obokun LocalGovernment) were notsuspended based onalleged collusion with the AllProgressives Congress(APC) to manipulateelectoral process in favourof the party in Osogbo andObokun local governmentcouncils respectively.

“They were neitherculpable of selling ballotpapers to the APC normanipulating Form EC8C tofavour the APC and voidingof PDP votes counted in

favour of the APC. MrFabunmi was suspendedbased on administrativelapses occasioned in thecourse of discharching hisduties.

“Mr Esinoye, ElectoralOfficer, Obokun LocalGovernment, on 7th August,2014, was alleged by thepeople of Obokun LocalGovernment Area ofdiverting sensitive electionmaterials and was arrestedby the police in the area”.

Ojo said, based on theforegoing, the Osun PDPcould only maintain a goodname if it plays politics withhuman face.

By BOLANLE BABALOLA

Police Arraign Man Over N1.2m Fraud

POLICE authority in the State of Osun has dragged a34-year-old man, Adeoye Olatunji, before an OsogboMagistrate’s Court for alleged N1.2 million fraud.

Olatunji allegedly defraudeda civil society man, KayodeLawal, of the sum on thepretence of helping him tosecure a N20 million loan fromUnited Bank for Africa (UBA)PLC.

The charge sheet madeavailable to OSUNDEFENDER on Wednesdayalleged that Olatunji committedthe offence between June 20and July 3, at the branch of thebank at Olonkoro area ofOsogbo.

According to the chargesheet, Olatunji alsoimpersonated a son of a retiredDeputy Inspector General ofPolice, Mr Adeoye Adebayo,

while introducing himself to hisvictim.

Olatunji, according to thecharge sheet, was arrested bythe police with somePermanent Voters’ Cards,bearing his name, picture andaddresses on them.

The accused person wassuspected of doubleregistration during the lastvoters’ registration exercise.

The charge sheet stated thatthe offence was contrary to andpunishable under Sections419,484, and 430(1) of theCriminal Code Cap 34, Vol.11Laws of Osun, 2003.

The suspected however

pleaded not guilty to thecharges of fraud and stealinglevelled against him.

Defence counsel, MrSunday Atofarati, applied forthe bail of the accused personin the most liberal term,praying the court to be liberalon the bail terms.

Atofarati maintained thatthe accused person was stillpresumed innocent untilcontrary is proved in a courtof law, even as he promised thatreliable sureties would standfor the suspect.

Magistrate Adebayo Lasisiof the court granted bail to theaccused person in the sum ofN500,000 and one surety, whomust be resident within thecourt jurisdiction.

The case was adjourned tillSeptember 25, 2014 formention.

By ISMAEEL UTHMAN

Ayeni Celebrates Aregbesola’sVictory With Fanfare

By ABOSEDE AKINPELU

ALL roads led to Ido-Ijesa in Ilesa-East LocalGovernment Council Area of the State of Osun lastSunday when Hon Lawrence Babatunde Ayeni

Foundation celebrated the August 9 reelection of State ofOsun governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, with fanfare.

Series of activities wereheld in commemoration ofthe Aregbesolagovernorship victory at thepoll, parts of which are up-coming artistes’performance; kid dancing;dancing competition; Firstand second parades of MissIjesa Beauty PageantsCompetition 2014 andcomedian performance.

It was a lot of fun at theevent as guests had a fulldose of series ofentertainments with a lot ofattractions to keep whoeverwere in attendance busy.

The sponsor of theprogramme, HonourableLawrence Babatunde Ayeni,who is a member of LagosState House of Assembly,disclosed on the occasionthat the Aregbesola electionvictory was a source of joyand inspiration for him as ithas opened variousopportunities for all andsundry in the state andbeyond.

Ayeni who used theoccasion to inform hisadmirers that he wouldcontest the next election inOsun appealled to his co-contestants within the partyto handle politics with thespirit of sportsmen.

Going down memorylane,the lawmaker said hisinvolvement in footballingat Ewekoro in Ogun State ata time in his life, has

contributed to his successstory in life.

He appealled to parentsto hunt for the talents oftheir children, adding thatsome important people madeit to the top through theearly discovery of theirtalents.

His words: “Today’sevent is an admixture ofempowerment of our youthsthrough the discovery oftheir talents and celebrationof the victory of my politicalidol, Ogbeni RaufAregbesola, who hastouched the lives of somany souls through hisselfless politics.

“I am indeed very happyto identify with the visionof Ogbeni Aregbesola. He isdefinitely going to leave aworthwhile legacy for ourdear state. He has done a lotto uplift Osun; and we havenot seen anything yet.Ogbeni is fully prepared forthe governorship office.”

Some of the dignitaries atthe event are President,Oranmiyan Worldwide,Prince Felix Awofisayo; DrYemi Adegoke; HonourableIdowu Korede; Prince WaleAdedoyin; Ogbeni KolaOlabisi; Mrs Sola Adeoye(Califonia); Mrs FlorenceEniola Adekunle (IyaAjinde); Mrs Jumoke Bepo;Mrs Abeke Aluko and HonAdeniji (Congo).

5OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014 News

Osun and 2015: The game changer

Continued from pg1

Overwhelming presenceThe overwhelming presence ofsecurity men in the state in the daysahead of the poll did not impede theelectorate from exercising their willon who governs them. That indeed,is a reassuring sign for manyNigerians and the internationalcommunity that the 2015 electioncould be a free and fair election.Indeed, ahead of the polls lastweekend, the APC and its flagbearer, Aregbesola, had in the faceof the strong presence of securitymen around the state betrayed clearsigns of unease. The APC’s nationalspokesman, Alhaji Lai Mohammed instatements painted the impression ofthe determination of the presidencyto rig the election in a clear determi-nation to reshape the politicalconfiguration of the Southwestahead of the decisive 2015 election.Such panic caused the oppositionparty to summon all its electedoffice holders and political appoin-tees from across the country toshow presence in Osun State fromlast Tuesday as a way of boostingthe morale of its supporters in thatstate.The PDP’s candidate was also liftedby the presence of strong detach-ment of the security forces whosepresence helped to suppress what-ever advantages the incumbencyfactor would have given toAregbesola.Omisore also had his friends fromthe Senate including SenatorsEnyininnya Abaribe, Ehigie Uzamereand some others to lift his heart. Butthe most decisive factors were thevoters on ground who at the end ofvoting on Saturday showed their

preference for the incumbent.The outcome was, however, not arout as the Aregbesola camp hadpredicted it would be without rigging.That underscored the agitation amongsome PDP loyalists who had soughtfor an alternative candidate. Omisore,a former deputy governor of OsunState had before this election been onthe winning side of all the gubernato-rial elections conducted in OsunState. He was deputy governor toChief Bisi Akande, strongly supportedthe immediate past governor, PrinceOlagunsoye Oyinlola in 2003 and2007, but, however, came short indelivering himself into an office hehad in the past helped others to enter.Though a very lively man with soundeducation, the factors againstOmisore were mostly fanned byperceptions about him arising fromhis trial for the murder of Chief BolaIge, a former attorney general of thefederation. Omisore who was acquit-ted of complicity in that murder,however, did little to clear thatperception. Besides, his political foeshelped to fan the negative perceptionabout him.Oyinlola, the immediate past governorof the state who himself had a grudgeagainst the PDP rubbed in the Igewound on the people when hequestioned why President Jonathanhad surrounded himself with all thosewho were questioned over the murderof Ige.“The candidate of the PDP wasarrested for killing Ige. He wasarrested and detained. “The nationalsecretary of the [PDP], ProfessorWale Oladipo, was also detained inconnection with the killing. TheMinister of Police Affairs, JeliliAdesiyan, was also detained.“The chairman of the party in thisstate, Ayobami Olaoluwa, was alsoarrested. So, why is everyone whowas in detention given appointment or

put in a position of authority? We needto ask the government,” Oyinlola said.Great minusLinking anyone or party with thedeath of Ige was a great minusespecially given the adoration that Igecontinues to draw from most parts ofthe state. The election was also anopportunity for political enemies in theSouthwest to hit at him. Tinubu hadby every indication mounted theplatform of political leadership of theSouthwest with the dominance of hisparty in five of the six Southweststates. After the loss of Ekiti, hispolitical empire was trimmed to fourstates and the prospect of losingOsun, had in the last weeks of thecampaign become an exciting lure forTinubu bashers in the region.Internal dissentIt was especially so, given thatAregbesola was generally consideredthe closest of the APC governors toTinubu.The internal dissent to Tinubu in theSouthwest was especially fanned byvestiges of Afenifere, the socio-political organization through whichTinubu, himself emerged as governorof Lagos State in 1999. But theformer governor’s alleged role insplintering Afenifere after his emer-gence as governor helped to createanimosity that today irks many Yorubaleaders.Even though many Afenifere leadersdid not come out openly to antagoniseTinubu and Aregbesola ahead of theelection, some of them were enthusi-astically waiting to celebrate thedownfall of the APC in Osun.Celebrating the downfallAPC leaders who learnt from theirlaxity in Ekiti were well prepared forOsun and went out of the way to wooknown and unknown enemies. PDPon the other hand did not help itscandidate with the clear animositytowards rebels in the party. The

treatment of Oyinlola and anotherformer governor of the state, SenatorIsiaka Adeleke subsequently provedto be one of the major problems forthe PDP on Election Day.Though Oyinlola did not musterenough votes to win his booth,Adeleke’s grip on Ede, one of thelargest towns in the state helped tofirmly deliver the town to the APC.After being lured into the PDPgubernatorial contest, the formergovernor was allegedly forced out bywhat he claimed to be impedimentsput on his way. That was thebeginning of his defection to theAPC, a move the PDP would nowregret not to have stopped.One APC source revealed thatAdeleke was the candidate the partyfeared most could troubleAregbesola. But even after hewithdrew, the PDP hierarchy in thestate failed to soothe him giving himroom to defect. Tinubu, the APCnational leader and the many presi-dential aspirants in the party wouldbe very gleeful with the outcome ofthe polls. Yesterday, a source saidTinubu was himself very bouncy ashe saw the result as a vindicationagainst the aspiration of his internalfoes in the Southwest. For thepresidential aspirants, the outcome ofthe election gives hope that theirpermutations of forging a Southwestand Northern alliance against the PDPremains feasible.For President Jonathan, the permuta-tion may have been that whateverloss of support he may have sufferedin the North would be gained in theSouthwest. Now, it is back to basics.By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor

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OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 20146 FOR THE RECORDS

Insecurity And Election Malpractices: Bane Of Good GovernanceBeing the text of an address delivered by Comrade Amitolu Shittu at the annual workshop of

Jama’atu Tahawunil Muslimeen in conjunction with Friedrich Ebert Foundation at Iwo TownHall, Iwo, State of Osun Recently.

INTRODUCTION

I am extremely delighted to be invited todeliver

this special lecture at this occasion.I am particularly pleased to stand before this

distinguished gathering of academics, leadingintellectuals and youths who are the molders ofour tomorrow, to share with you my views onthe state of our nation in relation to insecurity,election malpractices and good governance .

May I therefore first of all start byextending my special gratitude to AlmightyAllah who spared our lives to witness thisunique annual workshop. In addition, I amequally thanking the organizers of thisprogramme for inviting me to come and presentthis paper at this historic gathering.

I found it most expedient and important toset aside all my official duties today in order tocome here personally and deliver this lecture. Ihave chosen to do this for at least 2 reasons;

Firstly, the choice of the topic is both timelyand appropriate considering the fact that thecountry in general and Osun State in particularis already in the transition mood. In fact, in thenext 96 hours, general election will hold in thisstate. Therefore, I have no doubt in my heartthat this gathering will open the eyes of manypeople to the dangers inherent in electoralmalpractices in relation to good governancewhich everybody is yearning for.

Secondly, we all know that the past 15 yearsof democratic rule have been most critical in thehistory of Nigeria as we set for ourselves thetask of building a durable democratic systembased on the principle of justice, goodgovernance and accountability. As an activeparticipant representing Civil SocietyOrganization in the current democraticexperiment – I feel it is just right for me to usethis special privilege to join you in appraisingthe democratic journey we all started in May1999, compare notes and share ideas on areaswhere adjustment is inevitable.

Let me add a caveat, it is my hope that theorganizers of this programme are not expectingme in this short paper to attempt to answer thefundamental but difficult question on why ourdear country is currently insecured and whyelection irregularities are rampant? I belief myjob is a simple one – to pose questions, to raiseissues and to provoke debate on this rathercontemporary issue of national interest and inthe process, raise the quality of our intellectualdiscourse with a view to finding a lastingsolutions to the challenges of our times. If Isucceed in doing just that, then, my objectivewould have been achieved in coming to attendthis workshop.

CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATIONSTo enhance better understanding and appre-

ciation of this chapter, I find it necessary tosuccinctly define and explain some concepts,namely insecurity, election malpractices andgood governance before highlighting the nexusbetween them.

InsecurityThe word insecurity is taken from insecure,

both are from the Medieval Latin word“insecurus”. The word insecurus in Latin isfrom “securus” which means safe or certain.

The Advanced Learner’s Dictionary definesit as “ the condition of being susceptible toharm or injury”, Insecurity is also seen as theanxiety you experience when you feelvulnerable. The main descriptive phrases andwords that are central to understanding whatconstitute insecurity include: a state of danger,anxiety and susceptibility to harm or injury.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it therefore impliesclearly that wherever and whenever any situa-tion presents itself with these factors in place,insecurity becomes the order of the day.

Election MalpracticesThis word is usually used inter-changeably

with political malpractices. It simply meansillegal interference with the process of anelection. In other words, it is an act of fraudthat systematically affects the vote countwhich brings about an election result whereby aparticular candidate is unduly favoured andanother is depressed and suppressed using theapparatus of state power. In short, it is indirectway of turning an election into selection,unfortunately that is what goes on in Nigeriaand man 3 rd world countries.

Good GovernanceAccording to United Nation definition,

Good Governance is a process whereby publicinstitutions conduct public affairs, managepublic resources and guarantee the realizationof human rights in a manner essentially free ofabuse and corruption, and with due regard tothe rule of law. The good test of goodgovernance is the degree to which it delivers onthe promise of human rights: cultural, civil,economic, social and political rights.

The globally accepted key attributes of goodgovernance are:

· Transparency· Responsibility· Accountability· Participation· Responsiveness (to the need of the

people) NEXUS AND FRAMEWORK OF THE

SUBJECT MATTERDistinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, from

the above illustrations and definitions, one canrightly and unequivocally generalize thatinsecurity, election malpractices and goodgovernance are all contradictory compatibility.To this end, I shall pinpoint one by one theeffect of the former on the latter.

THE EFFECT OF INSECURITY ONGOOD GOVERNANCE

Permit me to take excerpts from the intro-ductory statement of President George W.Bush when the bill for the establishment ofDepartment of Homeland Security waspresented to congress in June 2002. TheAmerican President’s opening statement wentthus:

“ The President’s most important job is toprotect and defend the American people.

The changing nature of threat facing Americarequires a new government structure to protect

From this table, we can see that oursecurity agencies are grossly insufficient innumber, more than just that they are alsopoorly motivated and ill equipped to meet themany challenges of insecurity in Nigeria.

ONE BILLION DOLLAR LOAN?Based on data from National Bureau of

Statistics, however inadequate one may argue,we can safely assume that Nigerian is securedbut the data is not the true reflection of oursecurity forces. According to Global FirePower (GFP), Nigeria Military have ActiveFrontline Personnel: 130,000 and ActiveReserve Personnel: 32,000, which are grosslybelow the National statistic.

Also in terms of Defense equipment,Nigeria Military have, 1,450 Armored FightingVehicles (AFVs), 29 Self-Propelled Guns(SPGs),680 Towed Artillery, 21 Multiple-Launch Rocket Systems (MLRSs). NigeriaAirforce have 96 Aircraft, 10 Fighters/Interceptors, no Fixed-Wing AttackAircraft,36 Transport Aircraft, 40 Trainer

Based on the obvious budget on defense inthe last 7years, President Goodluck Jonathan’srequest for $1 billion( about#165billion) loan tofight the insurgent group, Boko Haram is notonly in bad faith but also in bad taste, indeed alot of people and group have questioned thesincerity of such borrowing. May I quicklyask, what happened to the defense budget towarrant a supplementary loan of #165billion? itis time for international community to questionthe institutional looting of government of thirdworld country.

Invariably and rightly so, the problem withour military is not more money, but badmanagement of previous budget to enhance andstrengthen our military. May God save us fromus.

THE EFFECT OF ELECTION MAL-

PRACTICES ON GOOD GOVERNANCELadies and Gentlemen, the resultant effect of

election malpractices to good governance ismore pronounced to insecurity. This is becausethere is no way one will talk about anythingelection without mentioning democracy. Themain reason for this is the fact that the onlyfactor that distinguishes democracy from allother forms of government is periodic election.

Therefore, election malpractices put democ-racy, which births good governance, in seriousdanger.

Election malpractices give room to thefollowing:

· Loss of Legitimacy to govern· It breeds political apathy which is an

underdevelopment tendency· Destruction of lives and properties· It promotes hatred, rebellion and

impunity on the part of citizens· It is a gradual route to anarchy.Let me say this, free and fair election is not

only a means to ensure, confirm and re-affirmthe legitimacy of a government through aregular consents but also provides fertileground for democracy to exist. However, ratherthan being a political asset and legitimizingforce since independence, election in Nigeriathrough election malpractices, have become apolitical liability and decay. The variousexperiences in competitive money politics andmaneuvering gimmicks carried out by electoralcandidates in order to gain access to office inNigeria have brought the worst in politicalthugery, unmediated and unrestrained violencecharacterized by wanton abuse of fundamentalhuman rights of the citizenry. I strongly feel itis high time we turned a new leaf in order toenjoy good governance which democracypromises.

CONCLUSIONLadies and Gentlemen, let me state that

Nigeria is a lucky country, because we are oneof the few countries in the world today thatwent through series of turbulent politicalperiods and yet survived.

We have gone through so much in our54years of nationhood, the era of operation“wetie” in the west, military coups genocide, a30monthlong civil war, June 12, ethnic andoften times religious and faith-based uprisingsand currently Boko Haram. We have survivedall and I believe we shall also survived BokoHaram.

As we move towards Osun and the 2015elections, all Nigerians must put our headstogether to ensure that the elections are heldfreely, transparently and peacefully. Thepolitical elite have the responsibility to pullback the country from the precipice on which itstands, to pursue politics of principle, politicsof nationalism and politics of integration. Wemust avoid doing anything that will undermineor retard the progress we have made so far. Wemust remember that democracy and goodgovernance are two side of the same coin; therecannot be one without the other. Let us allprevail on our political leaders at various levelsto evolve a country that we can all be proud of.That is what we want, after all they claim torepresent us.

Thank you all for listening. God bless youall.

American against invisible enemies that canstrike with a wide variety of weapons”.

The basis for the above excerpts is to enableus first and foremost appreciate that insecurityin any form and many anywhere is a majorchallenge to good governance in one hand andadmitting the fact that number one indices ofmeasuring good governance is the provision ofsecurity on the other hand.

THE COST OF INSECURITY ON

GOOD GOVERNANCEInsecurity has attendant consequences and it

is an aggregate of these consequences thatmakes insecurity to become a challenge toGood Governance. Some of the basic fall outsof insecurity challenge to good governance arein following areas:

· Loss of Lives and Properties· Psychological depression and fall out· Economic Realities· Socio–cultural disaffection· Strain in Foreign Relation among

others.

WAY FORWARDThis submission will be incomplete without

attempt at suggesting a way forward to thismenace which is a total overhaul of the securityagencies in our country.

There is no gainsaying that we have a poorlevel of national security preparedness. It iseven evident in the number of personnel makingup our security agencies, their contemporaryknowledge, the skills and tools at their disposalto combat insecurity. Before I go further, it willbe insightful to give you this tabular analysis itmay shock us to know these facts and figures.

Aircraft,36 Helicopters,8 Attack Helicopters.With these statistics, we can safely say thatNigeria Military is dangerously ill-equipped.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me quicklydiscuss Defense budget, from 2000 to 2013,defense budget has be on the increase, asshows by the table below:

•SHITTU

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014 7

Some Of The Completed Roads In The State Of Osun Under The AdministrationOf Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Photo: GBENGA

ADENIYI.

•Oke-Opo road in Ilesa.

•Prudence road in Ijebu-Ijesa.

PHOTOTALK

8 OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014PHOTOTALK

•

Members Of Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) Paid A CourtesyVisit To Governor Rauf Aregbesola In His Office, In Osogbo, Last Tuesday.

•Governor Aregbesola (3rd right); Professor Aina (3rd left); Chief of Staff to the Governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola (2nd right); Head, Lagos State ICPC Office, Mr ShintemapBinga (right); Superintendent, ICPC Ibadan Office, Mrs Adeoluwa Faustina(2nd left) and other dignitaries in a group photograph during the commission’s visit to the governorin his office.

•The governor, State of Osun, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola (right); Team Leader, Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Professor OluAina (left) and other dignitaries, during the commission’s visit to the governor in his office, Osogbo, State of Osun last Thursday.

9 OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014PHOTOTALK

•

Members Of Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) Paid A CourtesyVisit To Governor Rauf Aregbesola In His Office, In Osogbo, Last Tuesday.

Photo: GBENGA ADENIYI.

•Some of the members of ICPC during the courtesy visit.

•Chief of Staff to State of Osun Governor, Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola (left) and some members of the ICPC.

•(R-L) Governor Rauf Aregbesola; ICPC Team Leader, Professor Olu Aina and Head of Lagos State office of ICPC, Mr Binga Shintema at the event.

10 OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014

AUDACIOUSEXPLOIT

withMURTALA AGBOOLA

TEL: 0806-119-7897E-mail: murtalamuag@yahoo.com

My Take On TheLast Confab

PRESIDENT GoodluckEbele Jonathan in the firstquarter of the year caused

to be convoked the NationalConference, popularly calledconfab.

The 492-member conferencewas headed by a retired SupremeCourt Chief Judge, Justice IdrisKutigi from Niger State. He wasassisted in the onerous task byProfessor Bolaji Akinyemi. TheIfewara, State of Osun bornprofessor of Political Sciencewas a one-time Minister forExternal Affairs.

After the initial controversy onhow decision should be arrivedat, the confab settled for 70%concurrence, instead of the initial75%.

The confab was made up ofelder statesmen, distinguishedbureaucrats, accomplishedlawyers, academics and activistsamong others.

The report was submitted to thePresident Goodluck Jonathanrecently. However, Nigerianshave yet to see how the reportwould be adopted. It is still yet tobe finalised. Some analysts havesuggested that the draftconstitution should be subjectedto a referendum by the people.According to this school ofthought, since the Constitution ismeant to govern the life of thecitizens, they should have the lastsay. There are, however, otherswho disagree with thisproposition. They posit that sincethere are elected representativesof the people in the NationalAssembly; they should rather besaddled with that task.

The final outcome is yet to beknown on the matter and if thebody language of the President isto be correctly interpreted, thenby asking leaders of the NationalAssembly to join him inreceiving the confab report, itmay mean that the report wouldend up in the national legislature.

There are two issues thatcaught my fancy. The issue ofstate creation. The confabrecommended the creation of 18additional states, which ifapproved would make Nigeria afederation of 54 states. Statescreation if anything at all is onlyto serve elitist interest. Thereality on ground is that the morestates created, the weaker thecentre and states become.However, with the depletingresources from the centre, thestates become more subservientto the federal authorities. Ratherthan demand for the creation ofadditional states, we shouldchannel our resources towardsgenerating more federally-collected revenue. Creation ofmore states to me is an elitist’s

self interest.Some of the proponents of new

states hope to benefit from theexercise, which would not meetthe yearnings of the masses. Thecreation of new states brings fortha new class of privileged citizenswith the attendant depletion ofstate resources. The commonpeople always at the receiving endof such exercise.

The second issue has to do withthe sustenance of the presidentialsystem of government. Though thesystem has thrived successfully inthe United States of America(USA) our experience is less thana success.

Going by our own experience,the system is not only expensivebut dictatorial.

The system is expensive becausemembers of the executive(cabinet) are not taken from the

parliament. This means that theexecutive arm is different fromthose who make laws.Sometimes there is a deadlockbetween the two organs ofgovernment which hampersgovernmental activities. Thesalary and perquisite of officeholders combine to take a largechunk of the state resources.Above all, a non-performingchief executive, who desires asecond term in office cannot bedenied. The second term ticketof the chief executive is given astaken if he is interested. Thisstems from the fact that he isthe leader of the party, hence hiswishes must be automaticallyobeyed. The implication is thatin practice, the party wouldprefer to lose the office byretaining the incumbent, ratherthan allow a new but popular

candidate emerge.This experience is not only

peculiar to Nigeria but even tothe US, where we borrowed thesystem. How can appointees orelected executives of the partyconfront the chief executive, whois unpopular because his policieshad made the party vulnerable inan election?

In the parliamentary system,however, the cost is less. Cabinetmembers are drawn from theparliament.

Lawmakers who contributeeffectively are made ministers,which enhance productivity. If agovernment is unpopular, a voteof no- confidence can be passedby the parliament, which bringsthe government to an abrupt end.What an individual attains ingovernment is contingent uponhis contributions on the floor ofthe hallowed chambers of theassembly.

In the presidential system, theweapon of impeachment can beused to terminate the governmentof a chief executive rightly orwrongly. Starting from the firstimpeachment in Nigeria, whenAlhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musawas removed till now, theexercise has been tainted withpartisan politics and not anobjectivity. In 1980 the KadunaState House of Assemblydominated by the National Partyof Nigeria (NPN) removed thePeoples Redemption Party (PRP)governor of State, BalarabeMusa. His impeachment wasbased purely on sentiment ofNPN, being the dominant party inthe state legislature.

The recent exercise of thefailed attempt to remove thegovernor of Nasarawa State,Alhaji Umaru Tanko Al-Makura,from office by the PeoplesDemocratic Party (PDP)-dominated legislature is only awitch-hunt exercise. All these areexercises are not productive. Inview of this, it is my humblesubmission that the two issuesshould be revisited to allow themajority benefit from thedividend of democracy.

In the presidential system,power revolves around the chiefexecutive, whereas in the cabinetsystem, the party as a unit wieldsmuch influence. Our systemshould encourage the building ofinstitutions rather thanindividuals. The country stands tobenefit greatly if power is notconcentrated in individuals likewe have now. With the massivepower invested in individuals likewe have now, there is always thetendency to misuse it.

•JANATHAN

11 OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014FEATURE

•AREGBESOLA

Who Actually Attempted Rigging In Osun?

By MIKE OGUNDELE

DEMOCRACY is a game ofconsensus in whichcompeting elite groups offer

differing ideas of how best to organisesociety. Their primary theatre ofcompetition is election. Thoughconflict is embedded in politics, theplayers have at the back of their mindthe best of their people at heart. Afterelections have been won and lost, thelosers take it calmly and retreat toprepare for the next one. This is thefabled ‘spirit of sportsmanship’ thathas become the hallmark ofdeveloped society and which makesdemocracy to serve the best interestof the people ultimately.

However, looking at the eventsleading to, during and immediatelyafter the August 9, governorshipelection in Osun State, the conduct ofthe Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)and its candidate, Senator IyiolaOmisore, has left much to be desired.It is like they are at war with thepeople of the state. They have giventhe impression that they must win atall cost or heaven will fall.

One of their assaults on the peopleis unconscionable fabrication andabuse of media access. It is aseriously perturbing development tofind a syndicated story in many of ournational dailies on WednesdaySeptember 3, to the effect that twostaff of the Independent NationalElectoral Commission (INEC) havebeen suspended because they,according to the quite reprehensiblestory, allegedly colluded with the AllProgressives Party (APC) to rig theAugust 9, 2014 gubernatorial electionin Osun.

It is reprehensible on the one hand,because the apparently un-investigated story projects ournewspapers in very bad light asthoroughly shoddy and quite carelessin their reportorial duties. On theother hand, the utter falsehood ofsuch story gives away theunconscionable character of thePeoples Democratic Party (PDP) andinvariably that of the politicians withwhich it is peopled.

That the party will have theeffrontery to turn the truth on its headand flip facts over in the service of itsfailed political bid to foist a candidateof irreparably damaged reputation onthe people of Osun during the August9 election remains anincomprehensible mystery.

Unfortunately for the party, facts,given their nature, are not easilyamenable to the kind of senselessrevisionism as the PDP is trying toengage in. For the record; the fact ofthe matter is this: the two ElectoralOfficers (EOs) in question were infact working in cahoots with and forthe PDP to subvert the will of thepeople of Osun State before andduring the governorship election.

One of the two culprits, Segun

Eshilokun, was the Electoral Officer(EO) for Obokun Local Governmentwho, along with one Ismaila Taofik,was apprehended with a truck full ofelection materials a day prior to theelection day, before INEC officiallybegan to distribute such materials.Eshilokun and his partner werehanded over to the police by theyouths, only to be subsequentlyreleased to a PDP top functionaryfrom Ile-Ife, Professor WaleOladapo. The excuse given for theirrelease was simply and barefacedly,‘Order from Above’.

The second suspended staff ofINEC was the EO for Osogbo LocalGovernment Council Area during theelection. Being the largest voter basein the state, and given the alreadywidely known support for the APC inOsogbo, this EO made spiritedattempts to manipulate the electoralprocess in favour of the PDP. It wasthe vigilance and persistent complaintby the APC that prevented his brazenattempts from succeeding.

In fact, his suspension wasconsequent upon petition to INEC bythe APC about his numerous attemptsto twist the voting process in Osogboin favour of the PDP of which he is acard-carrying member. For instance,it is on record that on election day, hereleased only 64 out of the 227identification tags he was supposed torelease to APC polling agents.

The intent was to deprive the APC

polling agents of access to theirpolling units to monitor theaccreditation process. The APC hadto call INEC Commissioner for thiszone, Ambassador Wali, to intervene.But he was not done yet. Whenvoting came to an end, the same EOwithheld the customised Form EC8Cmeant for recording collated resultsfor Osogbo Local GovernmentCouncil Area. Again, the APC had tocall in Ambassador Wali, who issuedhim a second query in one day for theform to be released.

If we put these and other shamelessincidents of attempted rigging by thePDP alongside the militarisation of thestate, the cases of widespreadbullying by gun-wielding agents of thePDP-led federal government, theunlawful arrests of APC bigwigs,including members of the governor’scabinet among many other suchhorrifying acts, would it not be clearto all which party actually attemptedto rig?

That the PDP can now turn aroundto enrol the media in its reprehensiblepropaganda to change the facts isquite inconceivable. But it is evenmore unfortunate that our mediapractitioners will allow themselves tobe co-opted into this kind ofdisgraceful agenda to turn the victiminto perpetrator over-night.

The cases of attempted electoralmanipulation against the twosuspended INEC staff are in thepublic domain and were given goodcoverage in the media. It is the leastany media practitioner should do in

satisfying the requirement ofprofessional ethics to do a propercheck of the accuracy of a storybefore rushing to press.

The blatant falsehood of this storygives the impression of mediacollusion with the PDP to convert lieinto truth. Against this background,INEC also owes it a duty toNigerians, the people of Osun, and tomorality to come out clearly and saywhich party the suspended EOs wereactually colluding with. Associating thename of INEC with this mendaciousstory can only drag its name in themud and give it a taint of partisanship.

The electoral body would losenothing by coming out to announcewhich party is involved in the attemptto manipulate the election for whichthe two EOs were suspended pendingthe completion of the investigation it isconducting. After all, it is still in theprocess of investigation. But to keepquiet in the face of this morallydamaging story in which INEC’sname has been mentioned in theauthentication of plain falsehoodcannot bode well for the integrity ofthe electoral body.

It is not only a matter of moralobligation for INEC, but the electoralbody would also be making a strongstatement that no political party orpartisan group has a right to use itsname as a stamp of authority forfalsehood.

•Ogundele writes from Osogbo,

State of Osun.

•OMISORE

OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 201412 FEATURE

Osun, Electoral Militarisation And 2015IN Nigerian electoral politics today,

the term, militarisation, has cometo

acquire an extended culturalmeaning, consisting of three semanticcomponents: (1) the deployment ofsecurity forces, consisting of military,police, the Department of StateService, and other securityoperatives; (2) the deployment occursduring an election; and (3) theelection takes place in an oppositionstate. However, the third semanticcomponent may not be retainedduring the 2015 general elections,when all states and all political partieswill be involved simultaneously,including states controlled by theruling PDP. I will return to this issuelater.

What is clear for now is that, sincePresident Goodluck Jonathan cameto power in May 2011, suchexcessive deployments have takenplace in all five governorship electionsconducted under his watch, namely,Edo and Ondo states in 2012;Anambra in 2013; and Ekiti andOsun in 2014. What is common to allfive states is that they were controlledby one opposition party or the other.It is also evident that the scale of thedeployment has increased with eachsuccessive election.

The last of these elections, in OsunState, is the focus of this article forthree reasons. First, many observersconcluded that the militarisation of thestate during the election wasexcessive. It was widely reported thatwell over 70,000 security operatives,including 15,000 soldiers, 30,000policemen, 8,000 operatives of theDepartment of State Service, and20,000 civil defence officers weredeployed in the state just for thegovernorship election. That’s not all.One hundred specially trained dogswere also deployed in the state.Fifteen of the dogs, we were told,had just arrived from the UnitedStates, where they were trained todetect Improvised Explosive Devices.

No wonder, then, that someobservers noted that Boko Haramwould have become “a thing of thepast” had such forces been deployedin Borno State all these years.Besides, the movement restrictionimposed on Osun State during theelection period was more intense thanthe one imposed on the three northernstates under a state of emergency:From about 6pm on the eve of theelection and while the polls wereopen, you could not enter or leave thestate to transact any business norcould you move from one part of thestate, or even your city, to another.

If the right to freely exercise one’sfranchise is what democracy conferson voters, then that right was eitherwithdrawn from some Osun voters,through intimidation or harassment, orit was timidly exercised by others. Itis in this sense that the Osun case wasconsidered an affront to democracy.

This leads to the second reason forfocusing on the Osun case. Unlikeprevious cases, the securityoperatives scared Osun voters aheadof the election. It was widely reported

that numerous vehicles, filled withuniformed security operatives,paraded major cities in the state, withhooded and masked operativesshooting sporadically in the air. It wasa menacing signal to Osun voters thatthey should beware of August 9,2014. The effect was voterintimidation, which led about 46 percent of voters, who collected theirPermanent Voter Card just weeksearlier, to stay away from the polls.

Third, a number of observers andvoters who dared to exercise theirfreedom of movement and franchisewere traumatised in various ways.This was particularly true of theleaders, representatives, and pollingagents of the All ProgressivesCongress, the ruling party in the state,who were arrested, detained, orotherwise prevented fromparticipating in the election byobserving, supervising, or voting.

Beyond the media attention onsome high profile members of theAPC, including its chiefspokesperson, Lai Mohammed, whowere unnecessarily traumatised on theeve of, and during, the election, wellover 600 APC members wereinvolved in one form of security“brutality” or the other. They includedcommissioners in the state

government, notably, the stateAttorney General, Wale Afolabi; theCommissioner for Agriculture andFood Security, Wale Adedoyin; andthe Commissioner for Tourism, SikiruAiyedun. The state’s federallegislators were not spared, includingSenator Bayo Salami and a servingmember of the House ofRepresentatives, Folarin Fafowora.Nor were traditional rulers exempted,as the Regent of Iloko, High ChiefOgunsanya, was also harassed. Thelitmus test was simple: You wereunder suspicion if you were identifiedas an influential supporter of the APC.

It is the one-sidedness in the showof force against members of the APCin Osun that heightened the criticismsof electoral militarisation, especially asit came on the heels of the Ekitielection when notable supporters ofthe party, including GovernorsChibuike Amechi and AdamsOshiomhole, were prevented fromentering the state.

To be fair, rumours werewidespread that the APC hadplanned to import thugs and votersfrom Lagos into Ekiti and Osun statesduring their governorship elections.Such fabricated rumours havebecome facts in the minds of manycitizens. I remember a PDP supporteronce insisting that the crowds atAregbesola’s campaign rallies wereimported from Lagos!

It is also fair to add that rumourswere equally rife that the PDP wantedto take Osun, not just from the APCbut specifically from Aregbesola’shands. Having wrested Ekiti from theAPC just two months earlier, a win inOsun was considered a highpossibility. Perhaps, the suppressionof votes for the APC candidate mightenhance the chances of the PDPcandidate.

However, such rumours belong tothe realm of the hidden script when itcomes to the government’s policy onelectoral militarisation. The official,public script, revealed by PresidentJonathan after the Osun election,points to a more fundamental reason-the dual need (1) to maintain thesanctity of the ballots and (2) to avertthe kind of widespread violence thatfollowed his own election in 2011.Here’s how the President put it,referring to Nigerian voters: “Theywant to vote and want their votes tocount; they don’t want to bemolested; they don’t want ballotboxes to be hijacked by criminals. Ifthey are convinced that the process isfree, fair and credible, they have noreason to be angry.”

Well said, Mr. President. No oneneeds to be a TransformationAmbassador to agree with thesentiment behind your statement. Ialso strongly believe that you reallymean well. However, the facts on theground, as detailed above in the Osuncase, do not assure voters of a levelplaying field. They also makemilitarisation appear as a suspiciousmethod of achieving your statedgoals. To the extent that the mostpopular candidate won, and with awide margin, it is fair to say that theelection was credible. But the processwas neither free nor fair, especially onmany members of the APC. ThePresident’s continued silence on theharassment of the APC members inEkiti and Osun may have turned ahidden transcript into an official one.

Rather than address this matter, thePresident has gone ahead to insist thatthe 2015 general elections will bemilitarised as well. It remains to beseen, however, whether oppositionstates will be more militarised thanothers. Most importantly, allopposition party leaders and well-meaning Nigerians must demandahead of the elections that securityagents must not be used by the rulingPDP to harass members of theopposition parties during the generalelections.

It is here, I think, that Prof. AttahiruJega, chairman of the IndependentNational Electoral Commission, stillhas a job to do. It is not enough tosupport a House of Representativesbill that limits the role of securityforces, especially soldiers, duringelections. He needs to ensure theconstitutional independence of INECin conducting elections by demandingnon-interference from the presidencyor the ruling party ahead of the 2015elections.

•Culled from THE PUNCH

By NIYI AKINNASO

13 OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014

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14 OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014

The People’s Governor of the State of Osun, Ogbeni RaufAregbesola, has been re-elected to carry on for another term of fouryears.

Ogbeni Aregbesola recorded a resounding success in the just-concluded election.

The election shows that the Governor is well embraced by all thepeople of the State of the Virtuous.

In view of this, your popular grassroots tabloid, OSUN DEFENDERnewspaper, is doing a supplement to congratulate the People’sGovernor.

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EDITORIAL FROM OTHER NEWSPAPERS

2015 Card Readers•INEC Should Deploy The Device To Make Crooked ElectionsStraight

THE blight of credibleelections has been quitetraumatic for the

country. For years, the voter’swish had always beensubmerged in the context ofrigging that has madenonsense of elections in thecountry. And ProfessorAttahiru Jega, Chairman,Independent NationalElectoral Commission(INEC), saddled with electionplanning and managementsometime ago gave a hint ofhis determination to provethat the commission will doeverything possible toconduct reliable, free and fairgeneral elections in 2015.

His bright spark is theproposed deployment of cardreaders on the day of electionsby the commission. Jegaunfurled this in a paper titled:“Stakeholders and theElectoral Process in Nigeria”that he delivered at a lectureat the Department ofSociology, University ofLagos, in which he reportedlydeclared: “If you buy votercards, you can’t use them onvoting day because themechanism we are putting inplace in every polling unitwill detect fraud and whoeverthat was involved will bearrested on the spot for

electoral fraud andprosecution.” The goal of thisscheme, according to him, is toensure that those card readersdetect voter’s impersonation atpolling units through theirfingerprints.

We are aware of the efficacyof a card reader being datainput device that reads datafrom a card-shaped storagemedium. These electronicdevices can read plastic cardsembedded with either abarcode, magnetic strip,computer chip like thePermanent Voter Card (PVC)that is just being distributed toNigerians of registered votingage. The PVC is a chip-basedcard and contains a chip thatcarries all details andinformation about eachregistered voter, including hisphotograph and fingerprints,amongst others. If properlymanaged and made available inpolling units across the country,the card reader machines willeffortlessly ensureauthentication of legitimateholder of voters’ cards; thereby

mitigating incidents of votingirregularities that Nigeriahas become legendary for onissues of election and abuse ofvoters’ cards.

The question to ask iswhether INEC will notbungle the otherwise loftyscheme. We recollect thatduring the 2011 generalelections, the Data CapturingMachines (DCM) deployed bythe commission becamenightmares and most actuallygot jettisoned in most votingcentres across the countrydue to the notorious butavoidable ‘Nigerian factor’.Perhaps, the electoralumpire must invest in humancapital by ensuring that itsstaff are properly trained andaccorded the rightorientation to preventunscrupulous ones amongstthem from derailing theelectoral process throughcriminal compromise of themachines and by extension,the electoral process. Theelection managementprowess of INEC has largely

been doubted and mostlyridiculed in the past because itsstaff often fall for the alluringinducement offers of desperatepoliticians.

Equally, by Jega’s admission,using the January/February2011 voters’ registrationexercise, Nigeria has about 73.5million voters. It is not cheeringnews to note that thecommission plans to give PVCsto only about 40 millionregistered voters out of the73.5million by December, whileit intends to distribute thebalance early next year. This,uncomfortably, is less than twomonths to the general election.

Beyond this, INEC mustendeavour to make thisinitiative work. The commissionneeds to realise that the cardreader machines will be uselesswithout the commission’sspeedy and efficient issuance ofthe PVC to qualified voters. Thetwo are crucial to the success ofthe new initiative by thecommission.

Culled from THE NATION

15 OSUN DEFENDER Saturday, September 6, 2014PHOTOTALK

•The newly-commissioned ultra-modern school building of St. Stephen’s ‘B’ Middle School, Modakeke, State of Osun.

•Entrance of the newly-constructed L.A Elementary School at Obada Area, Ede, State Of Osun, under the administration of Governor Rauf Aregbesola.

Some Of The New Schools Built By The Governor, State Of Osun, Ogbeni RaufAregbesola, As Captured By Our Cameraman, GBENGA ADENIYI, Recently.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2014

www.osundefender.org THE 5TH MOST-VISITED NEWSPAPER WEBSITE IN NIGERIA

OSUN DEFENDER is published by Moremi Publishing House Limited, Promise Point Building, Opposite Guaranty Trust Bank GTB, Gbongan Road, Osogbo, State of Osun. Allcorrespondence to the Managing Editor, KOLA OLABISI, Telephone: 08033927286 (kolaolabisi@yahoo.com); Editor, KAYODE AGBAJE, Telephone: 0803-388-0205, E-mail:osundefender@yahoo.com, kayodeagbaje@yahoo.com. ISSN: 0794-8050.Website: www.osundefender.org.

HAVING lost shamefullyin the recently-concluded governorship

election in the State of Osun,the leaders and the drivers ofthe Peoples Democratic Party(PDP), a conglomerate ofNigerian oppressors and axis ofevil, which has so farsucceeded in keeping millionsof Nigerians in perpetual home-grown slavery and sprawling poverty,has lost sleep, and plotting endlessly howto supplant the masses’ victory, by usingthe weapons of lies, with a view torailroading the gullible ones into a hiddenagenda from the pit of hell.

Failure to muscle the poor electorateof Osun into cowardly voting for itscandidate, whose baggage is loaded withmurder allegation, betrayal, disloyalty andannoying arrogance, the plotters havebeen working hard in the shadow toretrieve the mandate freely given toOgbeni Rauf Aregbesola through thebackdoor.

Recall that the Vice PresidentNamadi Sambo, who has elected to leadthe political war in the South West hadsaid on a national television weeksbefore the election that the mandate inOsun would be taken through thebackdoor. Yes, because their Senegalmarabouts had told to him that the victorywould not be achieved at the poll.Honestly, this statement is not a joke.Perhaps, this time-out will tell you aboutthe conviction of the power mongers incrystal ball:

Ever since Nostradamus, the manwho saw tomorrow had hinted the worldthat, “the power of the world (America)would shift to the Middle East and thatthe fall of the super power would beginwith the fall of twin towers,” themythologists of American dream havelost sleep; they love America, their newworld and want to guard it jealously, butcould not afford to allow the predictionsof Nostradamus to come to pass. So,everything must be thrown into it tosuppress any nation in the Middle Eastthat makes move to compete with newworld.

Why did Nostradamus’ prediction giveAmerican thinkers headache? The wisemen behind the American dream weremythologists, who relied on the powerof dream and vision to make thingshappen and my journey to Disney Worldsituated in Florida, USA further revealedthe secret of a dream and vision. Theirsuccessors knew the efficacy of thecrystal ball that bequeathed to the worldbranches of philosophy likeMetaphysics, logics, mathematics andethics. So, Nostradamus must be takenseriously.

Immediately after the bombing of theWorld Trade Centre in New York andattack on Pentagon in Washington in2001, the twin towers that suggestcommerce and defense of America, the

political leadership did not wink beforea finger was pointed at Iraq, whichhad been marked out as “axis of evil”,because it was erroneously believedthat Saddam Hussein had developedcapacity for nuclear weapon; makingIraq to be flexing muscle with her,having realized that Afghanistan wasjust being needlessly stubborn. So,Saddam Hussein must be brought todust before he drives the prediction ofNostradamus into reality.

In order to storm the desert, PresidentGeorge Bush had to put up sex-up factswhich indicted Iraq and painted SaddamHussein a new face of evil and whenthe then Secretary General of the UnitedNations, Dr. Kofi Anna, demanded forthorough investigation of the factssupplied by the USA, he was over-ruledthrough veto power and the war began.

In the process, Saddam and hischildren were exterminated, millions ofIraqis killed, millions lost their homes, butnot an atom of nuclear weapon wasdiscovered in Iraq. It was a mereoppression of the super power driven bylies and phobia for Nostradamus’prediction. Ever since then, yourssincerely has agreed that diplomacy ofthe world is a by-product of lies and lies.

So, the noise of the PDP on the BokoHaram issue is understandable. Theoppressors of the masses had heardabout the time ticking of the oppressedto put up a fight that would dismantle theaxis of evil, which the PDP representsfrom some of their marabouts, and thatthe battle of liberation would start fromthe West by one man, who would defyall their antics to drive the masses.

Another Off-sideFor Desperadoes

•AREGBESOLA

It was reliably gathered thatat the build-up to the Osungovernorship election, a seniorPDP chieftain was sent to arenowned future teller in theMiddle East to go and find outabout the foretold calamity thatwould befall the “nest ofoppressors” in Nigeria, but the

first warning the crystal baller to thePDP chieftain was, “an election is goingin your country now, manipulating theresult would hasten the collapse of therepublic...” The agent quickly spoke tothe war room in Abuja about the newrevelation and that was the secret ofcongratulatory messages from PresidentGoodluck Jonathan, Minister of State forDefence, Musliu Obanikoro and othersto their sworn-enemy, Aregbesola.

However, they thought that themessages would hoodwink the peopleof Osun into letting down their guardbefore the plan ‘B’ is thrown up, but theloser in the election is a bad loser, whomust throw away the baby with the birthwater. His gaze fixes on the seat of thegovernor; he wants to rule the State ofOsun at all cost, even just a day. So, hechose to operate a clandestine agendadifferent from bigger plan of his party.

When the two INEC staff caught bythe APC youths a day before theelection for moving sensitive materialsin a Toyota Hilux van marked withPresidency and handed over to thePolice were suspended by themanagement, the disgruntled PDP inOsun quickly twisted the story and wentto the rooftop through its partners incrime, using veil of the media. When themuch-abused Nigerian Tribune withterribly compromised reporter splash theheadline: INEC SUSPENDS TWOSTAFF FOR COLLUDING WITHAPC TO RIG OSUN GOVELECTION, the PDP began tocelebrate that the victory would now besnatched at the tribunal with the story.

Quite sympathetic, the joy was shortlived. INEC under Professor AttahiruJega that had earlier gone to town toboast that Osun election was the mostsuccessful poll it has ever conductedwould not have it. So, a strongly wordedpress release was issued, putting lie tothe account of the suspension andquietude is now the answer from thecamp of desperadoes.

Honestly speaking Nigeria as acountry is at a great risk in the hands ofwanderers on the corridors of power inAbuja, the collective destiny of thepeople is being toyed with by the rulerwith diabolical bent and that is the clearand present danger the country iscontending with.

I rest my case.

•Butikakuro is the Press Secretaryto The Speaker, State of Osun.

By GOKE BUTIKA