An Action Congress senatorial candidate in the last National Assembly elections in Ogun State, Chief Remilekun Bakare, on Thursday said before the Election Petition Tribunal that the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the election, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello, is an ex-convict.
Bakare, who was giving evidence before the tribunal, added that the daughter of the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, had been convicted twice in the United States of America.
The petitioner, who tendered a document in respect of the alleged convictions, said that details on her convictions on traffic offences were downloaded from the internet. He said he then decided to present the details as evidence before the tribunal.
The tribunal, headed by Justice Haruna Tsannami, rejected the evidence following objections from counsel for Senator Obasanjo-Bello, Chief Abeeb Ajayi and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Mr. Olayode Delana, on the admissibility of the documents.
Mr. Folorunsho Ajala, counsel for Chief Bakare, had earlier called him into the witness box, during which he said that the daughter of the former president was convicted twice in the United States.
“I have documents to substantiate the fact that while she was residing in the USA, she was convicted on two separate occasions.” Chief Ajayi had objected to the document and cited different authorities.
He described the document brought before the tribunal as “a worthless piece of paper.” The INEC counsel noted that the document, being a public document, must be duly certified by concerned authorities before such documents could be admitted as evidence.
Justice Tsamanni, in his ruling, said that only a certified true copy of such a document was admissible, adding that the document presented did not satisfy Section 113(9) of the Evidence Act.
The petitioner also presented another evidence which was a gazette of the indictment of Senator Obasanjo-Bello which was admitted without any objection to its admissibility by the opposing counsel.
Reacting to the allegation, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State, through its Director of Organisation, Mr. Deji Kalejaiye, said that the party had no knowledge that Senator Obasanjo-Bello is an ex-convict.
“She is our senator representing Ogun Central at the National Assembly. Before her election, she was properly screened by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and was given the go-ahead to contest the election and she won.
“She was for four years a commissioner under the Chief Gbenga Daniel’s administration and passed through a rigorous screening before the state House of Assembly and she was never indicted by the House,” he said.
The PDP spokesman also added: “This is simply the handiwork of the opposition and I want to say that their efforts would be in futility.”
By Olayinka Olukoya, Abeokuta
Nigerian Tribune
Friday, November 16, 2007
