Osogbo, the capital of Osun State, was on Saturday rocked by protests, leading to blockage of major roads and disruption of vehicular and human movements.
Many business owners in the city did not open for fear of being attacked by hoodlums amid the unrest.
On the one hand, members of the Peoples Democratic Party took to the streets of the state capital to continue their protest against Friday’s tribunal judgment nullifying the election of Governor Ademola Adeleke.
On the other hand, commercial transporters in the state were on the streets protesting the scarcity and hike in the pump price of petrol.
The two protests went on simultaneously.
The PDP protesters marched through Osogbo, chanting songs denouncing the nullification of the governor’s victory at the July 16, 2022 poll.
The three-man tribunal had in its lead judgment delivered by its chairman, Justice Tetsea Kume, overturned Adeleke’s victory and announced ex-governor Adegboyega Oyetola as the winner of the poll.
Justice Kume held that Oyetola and his party, the All Progressives Congress, successfully proved their claim of over-voting in six local government areas during the election.
As it overturned Adeleke’s victory, the tribunal ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission to withdraw the Certificate of Return issued to him while Oyetola should be recognised as the winner of the governorship poll.
The judgment came as a rude shock to Adeleke and the PDP, with party members and loyalists across the state going on the rampage.
Soon after the verdict on Friday, the party members and loyalists demanded that Adeleke should make a state broadcast, calling for calm and assuring them that he would appeal the judgment.
On Saturday, the protesting PDP members went through Osogbo streets carrying placards with several inscriptions such as: “We were cheated before, now we reject miscarriage of justice’’; “Gov. Adeleke is our governor, no change of currency can change that’’; among others.
Chanting songs and raining curses, the protesters marched through Odi-Olowo and Oja-Oba areas to assemble at the Old Garage area, where they were addressed by a party leader and PDP senatorial candidate, Mr Ganiyu Olaoluwa.
Olaoluwa condemned the tribunal’s judgment and described it as a threat to democracy.
He, however, urged the aggrieved protesters to remain peaceful, saying they needed to keep faith and stand by Adeleke, whom he described as the actual winner of the poll.
Meanwhile, on their own part, commercial transporters protesting fuel scarcity and pump price hike blocked Owode-Ede, Ogo-Oluwa, Aregbe and Old Garage ends of the Gbongan-Osogbo Expressway.
They forced passengers out of buses and from commercial motorcycles.
They prevented intra-city commercial mini buses and commercial motorcyclists from picking passengers.
They, however, allowed private vehicles to move without hindrance, but forced commercial mini buses owners and commercial motorcyclists to stop working.
The immediate past chairman, Road Transport Employees Association of Nigeria in Osun, Mr Abioye Adekunle, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the action was to protest exorbitant price of petrol.
Adekunle said, “The price of petrol in Osun is ridiculously high. We are buying between N370 and N460 per litre.
“I just came back from Abuja. Even when there is queue, when you go into filling stations, you would still buy at N196 per litre.
“Here in Osun, the petrol is not even available and those selling are selling for between N370 and N460 per litre.
“The high cost of fuel is negatively affecting the operation of our members and that is why we are protesting so government can know what is going on and maybe come to our aid.”
Amid the two protests, major roads in Osogbo and Ilesa were blocked, with vehicular movement grounded along Osogbo/Ikirun road and Gbongan/Osogbo road.
The protesters descended on many commercial motorcyclists that were seen operating in the town.
While many commuters were stranded and had to trek long distances to their destinations, many business places did not open to customers over fear of attack by the hoodlums.
CP’s convoy waylaid
At Igbona area, the convoy of the state Commissioner of Police, Mr Kehinde Longe, was waylaid by some people believed to be members of transport management committee.
An eyewitness to the incident said policemen in the convoy of the CP later cleared the barricade and moved on.
At Ilesa, the popular Roundabout was blocked to traffic, forcing commuters to take alternative routes to their various destinations.
In an interview with our correspondent, the Police Public Relations Officer in Osun, Yemisi Opalola, said the Force was on top of the situation.
“More men have been deployed to the identified spots where roads were blocked to traffic. The situation is under control.”
Adeleke hails protesters
The embattled Adeleke, in a statement he personally signed on Saturday, hailed the protesting PDP members and party loyalists for rejecting the tribunal’s verdict.
In the statement, he expressed his delight at the show of love for him and commended the supporters’ “open defence of our mandate.”
He assured them that “the popular mandate will not be stolen either through front or backdoor.”
He said, “I have read stories of multiple protests and I have seen many videos from all over the state. From Central, West and East, I am overwhelmed by your open defence of our mandate. I express my appreciation to our people for their show of support. Your love for me is much appreciated.
“We have not done anything wrong. We won clearly with a wide margin. Local and foreign observers hailed our election as the best in recent Nigerian history. Rest assured that by God and man, justice will be done. Our mandate won’t be stolen. I urge you to remain calm. We should not take the law into our hands. We have appealed the judgement and we are sure of victory by the special grace of God.”
Tribunal chair acted like mercenary – PDP
The Osun State PDP knocked the chairman of the tribunal, Justice Kume, for what it described as the judge’s “unethical and disrespectful the choice of words” in the lead judgment sacking Adeleke.
Addressing newsmen in Osogbo on Saturday, the acting chairman of Osun PDP, Adekunle Akindele, accused the tribunal chairman of acting like “a hired mercenary”, claiming the judge did not disguise his alleged bias during the proceedings.
He said, “Our party had always suspected Mr Tertsea Kume’s conduct in the course of hearing of the petition. Most times, the Benue State-born controversial arbiter would get lost and get himself overwhelmed with his bias tendencies and enter the role of lead counsel to the petitioner, arguing points for them like a hired mercenary, even when it was obvious the hired counsel for the petitioner had lost their way.
“This reckless abuse of privilege got to a head when Mr Kume had to step down hearing twice for the APC lead counsel to adjust and regain himself when the latter got lost in traffic of trying to adumbrate white as black in their final written address.
“What more, the premeditated stance of the tribunal chairman was clearly demonstrated in his side of the stalemate with his choice of words which we considered unethical, disrespectful and unbecoming of a judicial officer of such standing.
“Even if the judgement was way-billed to him, as we suspected, by his petitioner collaborators, he should have disguised and exercised some restraints by expunging the foul languages obviously written for him in local parlance of Buga lyrics to disrespect an elected governor. He shouldn’t have gone so low, low, low!
“This is more so, when he’s expected not to be too carried away or in the least, to be aware that his warped position was a mere starting point in the legal tussle in this context as provided in our extant laws.”
He charged Nigerians to be ready to end exploitation by minority in the land and called on Osun people to be calm in steadfastness, and defend their mandate given to the party.
APC members jubilate
But while PDP members and loyalists were protesting, members of the favoured APC held a carnival in Iragbiji, the hometown of Oyetola, to celebrate his victory.
In the same vein, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, congratulated Oyetola, describing his victory at the tribunal as a welcome development.
In a statement on Saturday by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity Lanre Lasisi, the Speaker said the judgment had again shown that the APC remained the party to beat at all times, especially during the forthcoming general elections.
He, however, urged Oyetola to be magnanimous in victory at the end of the whole process.
Source:
punchng.com
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