THE declaration of Rauf Aregbesola, by the Court of Appeal sitting in Ibadan, as the winner of the Osun State governorship election of April 14, 2007 satisfies the claim of justice, even if this came at the tail end of the tenure.
The Court, last Friday, nullified the election of Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and ordered the immediate swearing in of Aregbesola, the Action Congress (AC) candidate in the election (and the appellant before it), having upheld his appeal and answered his prayer that he should be declared winner.
The appellate court, having nullified the results in 10 local governments where allegations of malpractices were made, upheld a new tally of 198,799 valid votes for Aregbesola against Oyinlola's 172,880.
The higher court painstakingly examined the appeal and point by point faulted the ruling of the tribunal that tried the case. From the clinical dissection by the appeal court, the tribunal's judgment was an unmitigated travesty. Instances of overlooking and dismissal of weighty evidence of the petitioner were too glaring. Therefore, the award of the election petition to Oyinlola could not have been a function of judicial perspective or an error of judgment but a blatant case of miscarriage of justice. At a point, the higher court described the position of the tribunal as "a travesty, caricature and mockery". This should be sobering.
Justice at last (http://thenationonlineng.net/web3/editorial/20271.html)