The Civil Societies Coalition for Emancipation of Osun State (CSCEO) has
\nkicked against plan by the committee set up by the State House of Assembly
\nto probe behind close-doors Justice Oloyede Folahanmi\u2019s petition against
\nGovernor Rauf Aregbesola and his deputy, Mrs. Titilayo Grace Tomori.<\/p>\n
The group insisted that the Speaker, Hon. Najeem Salam should stand by his
\nearlier statement that the investigation would be conducted openly, saying
\nrefusal to do this is a betrayal of the people\u2019s trust. Besides, the group
\nin a statement signed by its chairman, Comrade Adeniyi Sulaiman, rejected
\nthe 7-man panel comprising only members of All Progressives Congress (APC)
\nin an assembly with two opposition members from the Peoples Democratic
\nParty (PDP).<\/p>\n
According to CSCEO, the step taken by the leadership of the state assembly
\nshowed that it lacked the integrity and the will-power to dispassionately
\nand justly investigate the allegations of financial impropriety of
\nAregbesola.<\/p>\n
While demanding that the governor\u2019s response to the petition be made
\npublic, the coalition said all indications have shown that the committee
\nhad written its report before commencing sitting.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo even found out that the House Minority Leader, Hon. Dejo Makinde holds
\nMasters Degree in Law, which put him in vantage position for such
\nassignment but was not considered has revealed the Assembly leadership\u2019s
\nhad clandestine arrangement unknown to many.<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing by what we gathered, the committee has planned to give Aregbesola a
\nclean bill and that was why the Speaker did not allow any member of the
\nopposition to be part of this dirty deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have painstakingly studied the script already written by APC and we
\npromise that we will resist any attempt to rubbish Justice Folahanmmi\u2019s
\npetition against the governor and his deputy.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking at the committee, we discovered that the Chairman, Adegboye
\nAkintunde, who is the House\u2019s Deputy Speaker, is from the same Osogbo
\nconstituency with the Deputy-Governor while another strong member of the
\npanel, Owoeye Timothy, the House Majority Leader, is from the same
\nIlesa-East constituency with the governor.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan there be justice and fair hearing by this committee? This will be a
\nmirage. How can APC lawmakers find APC governor guilty of any offence? How
\ncan the lawmakers burn the fingers that had been feeding them?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw a similar thing in Lagos when late Chief Gani Fawehimi, a human
\nright crusader per-excellence petitioned the then Lagos House of Assembly
\nover Senator Bola Tinubu\u2019s certificate saga. Rather than the then all
\nAlliance for Democracy (AD) lawmakers investigate the matter thoroughly,
\nthe House committee led by Jide Omoworare pronounced Tinubu as not guilty.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, we are going to ensure that nothing is swept under the carpet. We
\nare going to enforce the state lawmakers to perform their constitutional
\nresponsibilities. Enough is enough of this impunity by the governor and
\nhis deputy in Osun state\u201d, Adeniyi said.<\/p>\n
The coalition noted that there were overwhelming evidences of financial
\nmisappropriation against Aregbesola and that there were several actions of
\nthe governor which contravened the letters of the 1999 constitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37102,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n