The rerun election in Osun East Senatorial District may have come and gone but the combatants may soon return to court for further interpretation.
At the end of the election, Senator Iyiola Omisore of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was announced as duly elected having scored the highest number of lawful votes. This was so because his main rival, Babjide Omoworare of the Action Congress (AC) withdrew from the race.
Recently, when the court annulled Omisore?s electoral victory and ordered a rerun, the AC candidate, Omoworare, who was the plaintiff heaved a sigh of relief. Although, he embraced the court ruling with mixed feeling because he had thought that the court would grant his prayers which borders on the eligibility of Omisore.
His words: ?I received it with mixed feelings; mixed feelings because we went to court to challenge his eligibility to contest. Secondly, we also went to court to challenge the outcome of the purported election. And we were able to establish in court that there were widespread malpractices, including the use of violence to snatch ballot boxes and to also engage in multiple voting; and that there were incidences of over voting; vote was recorded en mass for Iyiola Omisore.?
Omoworare explained that the fact that he won at the court of appeal was good but he contended that Omisore ought to have been disqualified because he was impeached when he served as Deputy-Governor to Chief Bisi Akande in 2001 before he decamped to the PDP.
?I said mixed feelings because we won in court, we had seven grounds, the court did not agree with the first one, but agreed with every other thing we took to court. So, I was happy we won but at the same time I felt the court should have gone a little further by looking a little deeper into the eligibility. I am a legal practitioner and lawmaker, I respect the judiciary, I respect the judgment of the court, I don?t have any choice than to abide by the judgment of the court despite the fact that I don?t agree with the judgment of the court on the issue of the eligibility,? Omoworare declared.
He later told the Nigerian Compass that the rerun was skewed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to favour his opponent.
?I also have another angle to the story that the same Independent National Electoral Commission INEC that conducted that election will conduct the rerun. In fact, I have a feeling that there is cause to suspect the INEC because as I am talking to you I don?t know the date of the rerun, but the out gone senator of Osun East, Iyiola Omisore has been grandstanding that the election will take place on the November 21, that is three weeks time.
?If elections are held on that day, it will be very sad for Nigerians, which means he is a commissioner in INEC or INEC is an appendage of his party.?
Omisore on the other hand had accused Omoworare of being afraid of the rerun when the latter went to court to stop the election that was first scheduled for December 6, 2009.
Reacting to the boycott after the last Wednesday election, Omisore said: ?AC only refused to partake as a way of avoiding a humiliating defeat?
The Lagos High Court had granted an injunction because Omoworare was able to convince them that INEC did not furnish him with the voter?s registers to enable him scrutinized it and ensure that his supporters were not disenfranchised.
It was thus surprising when INEC which had earlier obeyed the court order that stop the first date fixed December 23 despite the fact that the court had adjourned to December 22, a day before the rerun.
Though, the court vacated the injunction, the INEC claim that he has given the voters register to Omoworare a day to the election look suspect.
Besides, the AC also slammed the Chairman of INEC Prof Maurice Iwu with a lawsuit for his violation of court processes. Also, the party announced its withdrawal from the rerun stating that it did not want to run foul of the law.
The sudden withdrawal of AC from the race may also have contradicted Omoworare earlier posture when he told Nigerian Compass about his preparation for the rerun.
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