The results were arrived at after the justices voided the polls result in 10 of the 30 local government councils in Osun state where cases of irregularities, over-voting and electoral malpractices were established.
The affected controversial councils, according to Justice Ogunbiyi who read the lead judgement are Atakumosa; Ayedade Boluwaduro, Boripe; Ife Central; Ife East; Ife South; Ifedayo; Isokan and Odo Otin.
While Aregbesola polled 41,923 votes in these local government councils, Oyinlola scored 253, 789 votes.
By the time the Presiding Justice deducted the voided votes from the overall votes of 240,722 and 426, 669 initially credited the ACN and PDP candidates by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Aregbesola was named the winner with the majority of higher lawful votes in the 2007 election.
We 'll change the course of governance, says Aregbesola
News Nov 27, 2010By Emmanuel Aziken, Political Editor and DAPO AKINREFON
GOVERNOR Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola of Osun State has promised to redirect the course of governance in the State in the direction of human and social development of the people after what he claims to be seven and a half years of directionless administration.
Aregbesola who was yesterday declared Governor of the State will equally at his inauguration today, demand quick electoral reforms as a way of avoiding in the future what he describes as the needless pain and terror visited on the people of Osun State.
Aregbesola will also use the occasion of his inauguration today to pay homage to living and dead agents of the progressive movement in the country. He will particularly cite those who died in the process of the actualisation of his mandate.
While admitting the hurt on the populace, Aregbesola in the speech would call for reconciliation.
"Great people of Osun State, in the days to come, we shall make far-reaching decisions and announcements about this government and the route it will chart. We have won a great victory, no doubt. But after that victory, what next?
For me and for all of us, it is work, work and more work! For the past seven and a half years, this state has been drifting – drifting under a directionless, yet reckless leadership. For too long, our people helplessly watched as soul-less power merchants, who masquerade as leaders; hold them by the jugular but do nothing good except terrorizing them at will.
"Today, ladies and gentlemen, youths and elders, the long wait is over. The long, dark night of mis-governance, of hopelessness, of tyranny and terror is over.
"The long awaited dawn, as envisaged by our late Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, has now arrived. Now, it is the dawn of democracy; the dawn of fulfillment; the dawn of freedom; the dawn of liberty; the dawn of probity and accountability; the dawn of popular will and the dawn of happiness. The era of progressive, positive, focused accountable and people friendly government is here!
"Today is a day to treasure. Today is a day to toast. Today is a day to celebrate. Again, I congratulate you, the doughty and courageous people of our land! But I also congratulate the brave Judiciary for the umpteenth time, undoing the deliberate evil Maurice Iwu-led Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has done. I thank the Judiciary for doing a most patriotic duty of energizing our democracy by making our votes count, thus returning sovereignty to the people. This no doubt has mitigated the possible import of the General Olusegun Obasanjo motivated do-or-die politics.
"However, the big lesson the nation has to learn from the brazen licentiousness and untoward tendencies that were brought to taint the conduct of the affairs of the nation is the imperative for electoral reforms. The needless pains and terror visited on the Osun state people in the last 42 months and the threat to the collective integrity of the judiciary could have been averted had the Nigeria electoral system been attuned to the realities of our time and made to protect its own sanctity."
While calling for reconciliation, the new governor said, "My good people of Osun State, let me state that today is not a day of vengeance, but a day of reconciliation. Therefore, we call on the good people of Osun State to now redirect their energy to rebuilding the state that has been led down since 2003.
I implore you, with profound reverence to Oduduwa to let peace and calm reign." Excerpts of the speech to be delivered by the governor revealed.
Justice is the first condition of democracy
Being statement by Former Governor of Lagos State and Action Congress Chieftain, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, on the Court of Appeal verdict declaring Engineer Rauf Aregbesola, the Governor of Osun State.
Today, the forces of change have dealt a fatal blow to the forces of reaction, the movement of justice has crushed the party of injustice, the cloud of darkness that has hung dangerously over the great state of Living Spring has disappeared and peace has now returned to a state sentenced to unease and violence.
The shameless vote robbers of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have been exposed. It is a golden dawn in the state that bears the cradle of the Yoruba people. It is golden dawn for all lovers of democracy in Nigeria and all over the world.
We in the Action Congress of Nigeria are proud to be the vanguard of this revolution. We are proud to represent the moral imperative in a polity struggling to retrieve its conscience from the depravity of men who have no honour because they have no shame. We are proud to stand beside the good people of Osun State in their struggle to assert the legitimacy of their mandate and the dignity of their vote.
Yes, the blood of innocent citizens has been shed by the forces of retrogression. True, the expectations of our people for a government of their choice has been prolonged. But I assure the people that they shall see very soon, that the sacrifice has not been in vain.
The struggle has been tough. It has taken the best of our human and material resources. But we resolved that we would never let go. Nigeria is our fatherland, a collective patrimony given to us by our progenitors. It is our responsibility to leave her better and greater than we received her.
Today, the judiciary has lived up to its constitutional responsibility by standing by justice and voting for justice. We praise the courage of the fearless men and women of the Bench. The honourable and noble dispensers of justice untainted by lucre and uncowed by the threat of immoral power. This verdict is a historic denunciation of electoral fraud, a befitting dirge for electoral violence.
It is indeed a pity that our laws are yet to punish the wicked men and women who held a state hostage and looted her resources with criminal recklessness for over three years. We know that beyond the punishment of the courts, there is the punishment of God. Those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind.
I call on the great lovers of democracy to support our government and the people of Osun State as they march from darkness to light, from sadness to joy. It is a great day for all of us. Let us unify and face the challenge of transforming Osun State into the el dorado of our dreams.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,
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Like Ekiti, it's yet A new Dawn in Osun – Fayemi
The judgement of the Ibadan Court of Appeal on the Osun gubernatorial election has once again, given hope to the hopeless, and a blow against election riggers, who must now be consigned into the dustbin of history.
The judgement is a victory for democracy and warning to poll riggers that never again shall we allow or accept poll riggers to assume the position of power and authority in Nigeria.
I congratulate my brother Engr Rauf Aregbesola, the Governor Elect of Osun state, and for the people of Osun, it is a new dawn, and just like in Ekiti, "after darkness, comes the glorious dawn."
It has been a long and tortuous journey strewn in blood and tears along the route and for 43 months, and just like in Ekiti, the people of Osun were in the trenches, but today, the truth has prevailed and it is a glorious dawn for the people of Osun, and indeed all true democrats in Nigeria.
The forces of darkness have finally lost their grip over the Southwest and it is an opportunity for Nigerians to use the chance presented by the 2011 general elections to send the poll riggers out through the ballot boxes.
The judiciary in Nigeria is once again standing tall and as a matter of fact the last hope for the common man. For putting an end to the long-running case on electoral brigandage in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and now Osun, and for once again giving hope to Nigerians, I say kudos to the men and women of the bench.
The lesson in this for Nigerians is that we should all know that even if a lie travels for one thousand years, the truth will eventually catch up with it one day, today is the day of reckoning for poll riggers in Osun.
The ACN's victory in Osun is a great confirmation that our country, Nigeria, is indeed redeemable and can indeed be extricated from the stranglehold of the election riggers.
Once again, on behalf of the good people of Ekiti state, I send our felicitation to the good and long-suffering people of Osun, who will now have the opportunity, like their counterparts in the other states where ACN holds sway, to enjoy the long-awaited dividends of democracy.
Mojeed Jamiu
SSA Media
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AREGBESOLA: DELAY NOT DENIAL- KALU
KALU Former Abia state governor Dr. Orji Kalu has described the victory of Rauf Aregbesola as a sign that God's words would always come to pass even when mere mortals tend to doubt him He said,"it is the Lord's doing.Once again God has shown that delay is not denial.Even if it took Aregbesola close to four years to get justice,he will rule for at least the same number of years" Kalu congratulated the new governor stating that his emergence has changed the political equation in Osun state.
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Mimiko congratulates Osun's Aregbesola
The Ondo State Governor, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, has congratulated the Governor of Osun State, Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola on his victory in the April 2007 governorship election in Osun State as confirmed by the Appeal Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Governor Mimiko in a statement by Eni Akinsola, his Senior Special Assistant on Media said: "We are at one with Governor Aregbesola, the good people of Osun State and indeed all lovers of Justice and the democratic way on this victory. It is a victory for truth, for justice, for democracy and for the right and proper way of doing things.
"The delay, the days of waiting, physical, psychological and emotional input and the time spent retrieving the mandate all add to make the eventual victory more remarkable. The victory also confirms convincingly that the electoral reality of 2007 in the South West was one in which the people expressed their disgust with those who only wanted power for the sake of power."
Drawing comparison with the retrieval of his own mandate after a prolonged legal battle, Governor Mimiko said: "Like us, you persevered, remained undeterred and unfazed even when the odds seem unfavourable. This shows that you are not only committed to changing the face of governance in your State but determined to contribute to the battle to evolve a truly democratic order in Nigeria."
On the importance of the judiciary to the actualisation of a new order in Nigeria, Governor Mimiko said that the judiciary has discharged its duties thus far with aplomb. He however lamented that the fact that electoral disputations have to be prolonged for all of three and half years is unjust and should be discouraged. "It must be restated, we cannot continue with this order where a candidate will be allowed to rule over a people without having been confirmed as having been validly and legally elected," Mimiko said.
On the need to act decisively before the next election, Governor Mimiko said: "We cannot continue to put all the pressure on the Judiciary. We must as a matter of urgency work towards making it impossible for perpetrators of electoral heist to go without paying the price for their crime against the society. Either as INEC members or as politicians, those who subvert the will of the people ought not to be allowed to savour the air of freedom, they ought to be tried and jailed.
More than these, one man, one vote; let the votes count, and no decision no swearing-in should be the battle cry of all true lovers of Nigeria and democracy in subsequent elections."
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Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, Edo state governor has congratulated the Governor of Osun State, Alhaji Rauf Aregbosola on his victory at the Appeal Court sitting in Ibadan, Oyo State.
In a press statement made available to Osun Defender, the erstwhile Labour Congress president felicitate with Gov. Rauf Aregbesola over his hardfought battle and well deserved victory.
"I heartily rejoice with my brother, my friend and my Comrade, Alhaji Rauf Aregbesola on his sweet victory at the Appeal Court more than three years after he was robbed of the mandate freely given to him by the good people of Osun State on April 14, 2007."
"His victory is even sweeter considering that just a few weeks ago, another Appeal Court had sacked the illegal government in Ekiti State and declared our Comrade, Dr Kayode Fayemi, the authentic Governor of that State. The latest verdict of the Appeal Court is another testament that the Judiciary is the last hope of the defenceless and the oppressed." Oshiomole said.
Earlier, the Ex-EFCC boss and ACN presidential aspirant Mallam Nuhu Ribadu wrote on his facebook account "The train of justice is on an irresistible motion in our land as evidenced again by today's victory of my brother and friend, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola, in court, as the legitimate gubernatorial winner in Osun State. In rejoicing with the great people of Osun at this prospect of good governance and a truly service-oriented administration, I call on us all to keep our eyes on the ball towards next year's election. Let us register in massive numbers in the January INEC voter registration exercise; vote out the PDP, and elect ACN candidates come April 2011."
Oyinlola is the second PDP state governor to be removed from office by electoral courts in less than two months. It would be recall that on October 15, another electoral tribunal sacked Segun Oni of People's Democratic Party (PDP), and declared Kayode Fayemi, ACN Ekiti state governor.
In a reaction to Aregbesola victory, ACN spokesperson Alhaji Lai Mohammed in a statement made available to Nigerians Abroad magazine said "Osun, under the grip of the electoral marauders, became a euphemism for election rigging with bravado… It is a good opportunity for Nigerians to use the chance presented by next year's general elections to send the marauders cascading down the bottomless pit of shame and oblivion."
As the 2011 general election draws near, political analyst predict that PDP, the ruling party may lose the entire southwest and other key Nigerian states.
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