Osun State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has urged former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, to respect the law and avoid making comments that are sub-judice.
Obasanjo, in a statement entitled: “Points for concern and action,” at the weekend, had alluded to last September’s Osun state governorship election as “conclusive but declared inconclusive” by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) “despite all advice to the contrary.”
This was contained in a statement, yesterday, by the party’s Director of Publicity, Research and Strategy, Kunle Oyatomi.
“It is a pity, our respected former president is using the privilege of his position to express an opinion that is sub-judice to a case that is already before the election petition tribunal and currently being litigated.
“His comment on the Osun governorship election is a matter that should be left to the court to decide.
“Expressing an opinion on it, at this stage, is not only unlawful, it is a glaring disrespect for the rule and process of the law.
“This is more so because Obasanjo is using that case, which is still disputed, to illustrate, unfairly, his allegation that INEC cannot be trusted to run a free, fair and credible presidential election, next month.
“We advise Chief Obasanjo to limit his comment on a matter that is sub-judice, otherwise, he would be laying a precedent that would be unhelpful to the rule of law.
“Under our Electoral Law and the provisions of our constitution, INEC has the responsibility to conduct elections in the country, and it is also empowered to declare an election valid or invalid if there are sufficient lawful reasons to do so.
“Osun’s case is not the first of such instance of invalidation of a particular election, which is deemed to be inconsistent with the laws of the federation, as stipulated by the Constitution and the Electoral Law.