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Members of the
opposition party in Osun State House of Assembly have approached an
Osogbo High Court seeking an order to nullify the screening of the
state Independent Electoral Commission (OSSIEC) members while an appeal
were pending in court on the matter.

Led by Timothy
Owoeye, the legislators that are members of the Action Congress (AC) in
the Assembly, through the suit number HOS/M70/2010, are seeking the
order of the court to declare the screening of the chairman and members
of OSSIEC while the Appeal, in suit number HOS/M41/2009, was still
pending as an abuse of court process. In the originating summon, dated
June 29, 2010, the AC lawmakers also wanted the court to determine
whether “the filing of a stay of execution of a judgment by a party
against whom the judgment is given has not put the judgment in abeyance
until the ruling on the application is delivered.” They also wanted the
court to determine whether an appeal properly filed at the High Court
registry is for onward transmission to the Court of Appeal could be
properly terminated at the same high Court registry by mere filing of
notice of withdrawal of Appeal.

The trend

The summon, which
was filed by Kolapo Alimi, counsel for the plaintiffs, Minority Leader,
Mr. Owoeye, also averred that on March 27, 2010, an attempt was made to
serve him a notice of withdrawal of appeal at the premises of the state
House of Assembly which he rejected upon perusal that showed his name
was not written on it. On March 30, 2010, Mr. Owoeye claimed that
members of the House of Assembly were served with the list, and the
curriculum vitae of nominated chairman and members of the OSSIEC.
Amongst whom were, retired Justice Titus Oyeyemi Adewuyi, Remi Alabi,
Bamidele Isola Ezekiel Ogunjuyigbe, Adebisis Gbolagade, Razak Adegbite
and Akinboye Ogunola.

He also claimed
that his advice to the Assembly not to violate the law by screening the
persons named on the list while the appeal was pending in court was
overruled by the Speaker, Adejare Bello.

He however
mentioned in the 15 paragraph affidavit that he and other members of
the AC caucus staged a walk out of the floor of the parliament to
protest their grievance with the development.

An Osogbo High Court presided over by Justice Jide Falola had
earlier this year, ruled that the composition of OSSIEC was illegal,
while the state government filed a notice of appeal but in a twist,
sent a fresh list of OSSIEC members to the parliament for screening and
approval. No date has yet been fixed for the hearing of the suit.