The Civil Societies Coalition for Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEO) has
kicked against plan by the committee set up by the State House of Assembly
to probe behind close-doors Justice Oloyede Folahanmi’s petition against
Governor Rauf Aregbesola and his deputy, Mrs. Titilayo Grace Tomori.
The group insisted that the Speaker, Hon. Najeem Salam should stand by his
earlier statement that the investigation would be conducted openly, saying
refusal to do this is a betrayal of the people’s trust. Besides, the group
in a statement signed by its chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Sulaiman, rejected
the 7-man panel comprising only members of All Progressives Congress (APC)
in an assembly with two opposition members from the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP).
According to CSCEO, the step taken by the leadership of the state assembly
showed that it lacked the integrity and the will-power to dispassionately
and justly investigate the allegations of financial impropriety of
Aregbesola.
While demanding that the governor’s response to the petition be made
public, the coalition said all indications have shown that the committee
had written its report before commencing sitting.
“To even found out that the House Minority Leader, Hon. Dejo Makinde holds
Masters Degree in Law, which put him in vantage position for such
assignment but was not considered has revealed the Assembly leadership’s
had clandestine arrangement unknown to many.
“Going by what we gathered, the committee has planned to give Aregbesola a
clean bill and that was why the Speaker did not allow any member of the
opposition to be part of this dirty deal.
“We have painstakingly studied the script already written by APC and we
promise that we will resist any attempt to rubbish Justice Folahanmmi’s
petition against the governor and his deputy.
“Looking at the committee, we discovered that the Chairman, Adegboye
Akintunde, who is the House’s Deputy Speaker, is from the same Osogbo
constituency with the Deputy-Governor while another strong member of the
panel, Owoeye Timothy, the House Majority Leader, is from the same
Ilesa-East constituency with the governor.
“Can there be justice and fair hearing by this committee? This will be a
mirage. How can APC lawmakers find APC governor guilty of any offence? How
can the lawmakers burn the fingers that had been feeding them?
“We saw a similar thing in Lagos when late Chief Gani Fawehimi, a human
right crusader per-excellence petitioned the then Lagos House of Assembly
over Senator Bola Tinubu’s certificate saga. Rather than the then all
Alliance for Democracy (AD) lawmakers investigate the matter thoroughly,
the House committee led by Jide Omoworare pronounced Tinubu as not guilty.
“For us, we are going to ensure that nothing is swept under the carpet. We
are going to enforce the state lawmakers to perform their constitutional
responsibilities. Enough is enough of this impunity by the governor and
his deputy in Osun state”, Adeniyi said.
The coalition noted that there were overwhelming evidences of financial
misappropriation against Aregbesola and that there were several actions of
the governor which contravened the letters of the 1999 constitution.