Osun Gov Adeleke, Oyetola Accuse Each Other Of Plans To Bribe Election Tribunal Ahead Of Judgement

Ahead of the judgement by the 3-man panel of Osun State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal chaired by Justice Tertse Kume, later this month, the battle has been renewed between Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) and the All Progressives Congress(APC) in Osun State over alleged plans to bribe judges.

Former governor Adegboyega Oyetola had tackled Ademola Adeleke over his victory at the July 16th 2022 gubernatorial election as he alleged that there was overvoting during the exercise and accused PDP candidate of certificate forgery.

THE WHISTLER learnt that the parties involved in the case had attempted to bribe the judges but were turned down on several occasions before the matter was concluded on January 13th 2023.

Meanwhile, PDP leadership in the state alleged that the former governor is struggling to schedule a secret meeting with the members of the tribunal for this Friday at a closely guarded location.

The caretaker chairman of PDP, Dr Adekunle Akindele, said Oyetola and APC are planning to influence the judgement in their favour.

He explained that “Information at our disposal confirms the evil plot to corrupt and hijack the Tribunal outcome. The plot has reached an advanced stage. The former Governor is running around to get the judges to agree to a meeting for this Friday. But he will not succeed because the judges will not agree to such a meeting. Panel members are men of integrity and good conscience.

“We want to affirm the trust of PDP and Governor Ademola Adeleke in the integrity and incorruptibility of the members of the panel and the Nigerian judiciary as a whole. We know the panel members, their antecedents and their high sense of equity and fairness. We have no doubt the panel will not succumb to the evil scheming of those who detest democracy and are desperate to upturn the will of the people”, he affirmed.

However, Acting Chairman of APC, Tajudeen Lawal, responding to the allegations expressed surprise as he berated PDP.

Lawal said, “Osun PDP handlers are only trying to be clever by half by rolling out absolute falsehood in order to justify the imminent failure awaiting them at the tribunal. Oyetola needs not press any botton for his victory in all ramifications.

He noted that, “only about a month ago, the social media was awash with stories of how a contact committee was set up by the PDP to go after the tribunal justices. We hope they are not trying to accuse us of what they did only because the project failed?

“Any discerning Nigerian will immediately know that Governor Ademola Adeleke has a terribly bad case before the tribunal, as it is common knowledge in Ede that he had issues with his certificate. No matter how hard he tries, there are people who are still alive who know his story.”