Fear of litigation grips Adeleke’s camp, seeks settlement with Babayemi’s PDP faction

The camp of the Osun State governor-elect, Ademola Adeleke, is worried over a suit filed by his rival in the Peoples Democratic Party’s primary, Prince Dotun Babayemi, at the Court of Appeal, Akure.

Members of the group, in separate interviews with The PUNCH on Monday, admitted that the suit constituted danger to the PDP’s victory at the Osun State governorship election on Saturday, adding that the party had begun reconciliation with Babayemi.

Members of Adeleke camp who spoke to The PUNCH included Osun acting PDP Chairman, Dr Adekunle Akindele; the Director of Media, Osun State PDP, Oladele Oluwabamiji, and the Secretary of the PDP Legal Committee, Hashim Abioye.

It was gathered that Adeleke’s camp was concerned that the external forces could exploit the case to truncate the party’s victory.

The PDP in Osun State had on March 8 conducted two governorship primaries featuring Adeleke and Babayemi.

While the primary which was held at the Osogbo City Stadium, under the supervision of Deputy Governor of Bayelsa, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, produced Adeleke, Babayemi was declared the winner at the primary held at the Children and Women Development Centre, Osogbo.

Consequently, Babayemi headed for the Federal High Court in Osogbo seeking to be declared the valid governorship candidate of the PDP.

But the court in a judgment by Justice Nathaniel Ayo-Emmanuel affirmed Adeleke as the validly elected governorship candidate of the Osun State PDP.

Dissatisfied with the ruling, Babayemi filed an appeal at the Court of Appeal, Akure, challenging the judgment of the lower court and seeking to be declared as the PDP governorship candidate.

The Director of Media of the Osun State PDP, Oluwabamiji, noted that all aggrieved party members constituted danger to the PDP victory, adding that no opportunity would be given to external forces to exploit the situation.

Oluwabamiji said, “My take is that any member of our party that is aggrieved is constituting some kind of danger, not to mention court cases.

“Grievance of major gladiators is enough as admittance of danger. I am aware that our leaders are not sleeping over it. They are still talking to Prince Dotun Babayemi and others in the party, not minding our victory at the polls. We are always better together. We are not taking anyone for granted.

“We believe everyone should come on board now so we can have a seamless administration; so that we can deliver our promises to the good people of Osun State. You know we cannot do that on the platform of rancourous relationship as a political party.”

Expressing confidence that Babayemi would yield to sound reasoning, the party chieftain said efforts are ongoing to pacify the factional governorship candidate.

He stated, “Dotun Babayemi is a prince and I’m sure that the blue blood in him will speak to his veins. We need a bit of fresh air which the good people of Osun State have put in place via the verdict during the gubernatorial election.

“We are still trying to talk to him and manage the situation. Differences cannot help anyone. We have seen the worst of what internal rancour can do to a political party. We won’t do anything that will leave us open to some other forces trying to creep in.”

The Osun acting PDP Chairman, Akindele, expressed optimism that the case would be withdrawn and the matter resolved amicably.

“In the first place, it is a mere academic exercise but since he is a member of our party and he is aggrieved, we have been meeting to find a political solution to it. We are optimistic that it will be resolved amicably and he will withdraw the case before Wednesday,” Akindele assured.

Legal committee

The Secretary of the PDP Legal Committee, Abioye, explained that the case came up for hearing on July 13 and that the Appellate Court has reserved judgment indefinitely on the matter.

According to him, before the Osogbo Federal High Court gave judgment on Babayemi’s case against Adeleke, an Abuja Federal High Court had earlier ruled in favour of the Osun governor-elect in a matter he instituted against the PDP and the Independent National Electoral Commission in which he asked the court to declare him the validly elected governorship candidate of the party in Osun.

Abioye said it was after Adeleke had won at the Federal High Court, Abuja, that the Federal High Court, Osogbo, also ruled on the matter in his favour.

He said, “Before Osogbo Federal High Court gave judgment on Babayemi’s matter, what many people don’t know is that there was a judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja which validated the candidature of Senator Nurudeen Ademola Adeleke Jackson as the governorship candidate of the PDP in Osun State.

“That judgment came before that of the Federal High Court, Osogbo, in the suit instituted by Prince Dotun Babayemi. But after the judgment in the suit instituted by Adeleke at the Federal High Court, Abuja, against INEC and PDP, Prince Babayemi, not being a party to the suit, sought leave to appeal as an interested party.

“But the Court of Appeal, Abuja, dismissed the suit as lacking in merit. As at the time the judgment of Court of Appeal in Abuja came, the Federal High Court in Osogbo had delivered its judgment in the case instituted by Babayemi and the matter was also struck out as the court said Babayemi lacked locus standi.

“The Abuja Court of Appeal referred to the judgment of the Osogbo Federal High Court in its judgment.”

The PDP Legal Committee secretary further disclosed that the Court of Appeal ruled that Babayemi did not participate physically in the primary election conducted by the National Executive Committee of the party which is the authority recognized under the law.

He added, “It was after the decision of the Abuja Court of Appeal that  Babayemi then appealed the judgment of the Osogbo Federal High Court to the Court of Appeal, Akure.

“The appeal has been taken, parties have argued their briefs and everyone awaits the judgment of the court. The case is reserved for judgment but the date is not yet communicated

“In the first place, the case is a mere academic exercise, but since he is a member of our party and he is aggrieved, we are already meeting to find a political solution to it. We are optimistic that it will be resolved amicably and he will withdraw the case.”

The spokesperson for the Babayemi Campaign Organisation,Kayode Oladeji, could not be reached for comment as calls to his line rang out. He did not reply to a text message sent to him by one of our correspondents on Monday.

Also, Babayemi was unable to be reached for comment on Adeleke’s victory as his phone was switched off. A text message sent to him by our correspondent was not replied as of the time of filing this report.

But a source in the Babayemi Campaign Organisation, said there were moves to stop further action on the litigation, saying many leaders were appealing to Babayemi to drop his grievances.

He said, “There have been meetings on the matter. It is not a small matter and many leaders are not keeping quiet on the court case at Akure Court of Appeal. But no decision yet from Babayemi.”

Adeleke’s campaign

However, the Director General Adeleke Campaign Organisation, Sunday Bisi, in an interview with The PUNCH, denied the existence of a factional governorship candidate in the party.

He said, “We do not have any factional candidates. INEC had published the names of candidates of every political party. There was nowhere in the publication that we had two governorship candidates.

“So, it will be wrong and unlawful of you to say someone is factional; we do not have it again. There is one candidate and that is Ademola Adeleke. The party is one indivisible element. We do not have a faction in the PDP. For now, I know that PDP is one. And if anybody has approached any law court, let the court decide.”

A former governor of the state, Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, who supported the primary that produced Babayemi in March, had on Sunday congratulated Adeleke.

In a statement in Okuku, Osun State, Oyinlola described Adeleke’s victory at Saturday’s election as a divine validation of his efforts.

He stated, “That you emerged victorious in the poll was, no doubt, a product of God’s favour and people’s love powered by long years of planning and single-minded determination to serve our people as the state’s chief executive.

“As one of your predecessors, I am privileged to know that the task ahead is very enormous and the load very heavy.  I, however, pray that God Almighty will help you to successfully discharge the responsibilities put on your shoulders by this mandate of our people,” Oyinlola said.

Osun governor’s lawyers inspect election results, may head for court, Tinubu awaits gov

Findings indicate that lawyers to the state governor have begun studying the results from some polling units in the state with a view to identifying any irregularities, The PUNCH has learnt.

The three lawyers working on the matter are: Mr. Kola Adegoke (SAN), Dr. Abiodun Layonu (SAN) and Senator Bashir Ajibola, who is also the Director-General of Oyetola’s campaign.

One of our correspondents learnt that a letter would soon be forwarded to the INEC to obtain certified true copies of result sheets to compare them with the ones signed by polling agents.

Should they establish a solid case, Oyetola will be expected to set up a larger legal team made up of some of the most notable senior advocates to challenge the victory of the PDP.

“For now, our internal lawyers are looking through the available documents for any irregularities. Should we establish a good case, we will hire some of the biggest senior advocates to challenge the PDP’s victory in court,” an aide to Oyetola stated.

Confirming his involvement in Oyetola’s legal matter, Adegoke told The PUNCH that he and his colleagues were still sifting through the documents.

He added that because election matters are time-bound, he and the team would have to work quickly.

“We are still looking through the documents for now. Once we are satisfied, we will take the appropriate steps. We have not made any official statement on the election for now because we are still working on it.

“The matter is limited by time so we will make sure that we wrap up everything within the time limited by law,” Adegoke added.