FORMER governor of Ondo State, Dr Olusegun Agagu, has petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan, alleging that fake security reports were the basis of the judgment that gave victory to Governor Olusegun Mimiko of the Labour Party in 2009.

The petition is coming 18 months after the election petition tribunal nullified the election of the former governor.

The petition, which had earlier been written to the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, has been represented to President Jonathan.

The former governor, who said he had accepted his removal as the wish of God, however, called for investigation to expose syndicates fooling the nation.

Agagu had, in the petition, alleged that the security reports purportedly issued by the State Security Service (SSS) and which were admitted in evidence to quash his victory at the April 14, 2007 governorship poll in the state were forged.

The Justice Garba Nabaruma-led Election Petition Tribunal in the state had nullified the return of Dr Agagu by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner of the state governorship election,  on account that the election was fraught with violence, ballot stuffing, among other electoral malpractices, a judgment that was upheld by the Court of Appeal sitting in Benin City, Edo State, on July 25, 2009.

The Nigerian Tribune gathered that the president has ordered investigation which is already generating ripples in the security circles as five people have been quizzed in connection with the petition, fuelling insinuations that the judges - at the tribunal and the appellate court - might have been misled by the documents.

In a statement signed by Mr Yemi Olowolabi, Chief Press Secretary to Dr Agagu, it was alleged that the decision of the judges was substantially based on “the fake security reports purportedly written by the SSS, which rejected the results only in the 10 local government areas where the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate, Dr Agagu, won and retained all the votes cast in the seven local government areas where the Labour Party’s candidate, Dr Olusegun Mimiko won.

Dr Agagu added that the use of fake documentary evidence in prosecution was not limited to Ondo State, saying that some chieftains of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ANC) were currently facing trial for allegedly tendering fake police report.

But reacting to the security reports issue, the state Commissioner for Information, Mr Ranti Akerele, described the petition as frivolous.

He stated in a telephone interview with the Nigerian Tribune that the tribunal did not use any security report to arrive at its verdict.

“Is it a security report issue when INEC gave 500 votes to a polling booth and the result reflected 600 votes? The tribunal counted all votes one by one and took out the illegal votes to arrive at its conclusions,” he noted.

“We challenge the PDP in the state to go and challenge the issue in court instead of chasing the shadows,” he added.

Comments (0)

Show/hide comments

Show/hide comment form

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment