- Says Osafile’s victory vindicates the group’s position on Doherty’s case
By Sunday Ani
The Amuwo Odofin Youth Renaissance Network has described the judgment of the Appeal Court on Thursday, November 23, 2023, in favour of the Lagos State House of Assembly member, Stella Foluke Osafile of the Labour Party (LP), representing Amuwo-Odofin Constituency 1, as a clear vindication of its position on the previous virtual ruling of her counterpart, David Olukoya Doherty of Amuwo-Odofin Constituency 2, on Friday, November 17, 2023.
It will be recalled that the youth group had on November 20, 2023, cited certain likely legal infractions, in the manner Doherty’s case was hastily dispensed with, by Justice Baba Idris in a three minutes’ zoom session.
A statement by the group’s spokesperson, Abdulmajeed Oreoluwa on Saturday stated that its position on the matter had been vindicated by Osafile’s eventual victory on Thursday.
“That the Appeal Court at its Thursday sitting on Osafile’s matter opted for a physical court session rather than the unwarranted virtual session held in Doherty’s case, further affirms that it was a forcefully calculated attempt to subvert the people’s will in Amuwo-Odofin Constituency 2 as we rightly stated in our previous communication.
“We, at Amuwo Odofin Youth Renaissance Network, have chosen to always expose the ills in our community to defend the interest of our people. We are passionate about this cause as democracy needs to be protected from the marauding dracula that pervades our society.
“Our further investigation into Doherty’s case revealed the highest level of desperation because the signature of one of the judges, Justice Theresa Ngolika Orji-Abadua, was forged in the zoom ruling.
“As opposed to what obtains in Doherty’s case which was discovered to be handled by their lordship in a highly subjective manner, that of Osafile as read by Justice Joseph Ekanem was purely handled objectively, basically on its merit. This in itself posits that the case being a pre-election matter should have spelt out the LP’s victory all the way, even in Constituency 2.
“We urge the Labour Party to leverage on their recent creditable victory in Osafile’s case and reclaim the stolen mandate in constituency 2. We also challenge Wale Rauf Age-Sulaimon to controvert our claim of desperation as cited earlier if he has any genuine ground.
“The youth network will not keep quite until justice is truly served as we have been vindicated in Osafile’s victory that Wale Rauf Age-Sulaimon is only making frantic effort to steal a mandate he did not legitimately obtain from the electorates in Amuwo-Odofin 2 through the court, and we will unveil the truth soon,” Oreoluwa stated.