Kashamu Stops Obassanjo Book Launch

Chief Olusegun Obasanjo

AN Abuja High Court has restrained former President Olusegun Obasanjo from proceeding with plans to publish or have someone publish on his behalf, an autobiography entitled, “My watch.”

The judge, Justice Valentine Ashi of Abuja High Court, sitting I Wuse II, made the restraining order on Friday after listening to Dr Alex Iziyon who argued a motion exparte brought on behalf of a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Buruji Kashamu.

Iziyon had argued that the content of the book related to issues contained in Obasanjo’s December 2, 2013 letter to President Goodluck Jonathan and former PDP national chairman, Bamanga Tukur, where he (Obasanjo) claimed that Kashamu was allegedly a fugitive wanted in the United States (US).

He contended that since the content of the letter was the subject of the libel suit his client filed against Obasanjo, which is still pending before the court, it was wrong for the ex-president to be allowed to proceed to comment on, write books about or make publications on the issue yet to be decided by the court.

Justice Ashi, in a ruling, restrained Obasanjo from either publishing the book or having it published on his behalf by anybody, pending the determination of the main suit still pending before the court.

“The defendant, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, whether by himself, his agents, servants, privies or any other person by whatever name called and howsoever described, is hereby restrained from publishing or caused to be published in the yet-to-be published book, ‘My Watch’ or any autobiography or biography and any extracts of same, by whatever name called or howsoever titled, pending the hearing and determination of the motion on notice hereof,” Justice Ashi said.

The judge further restrained Obasanjo and his agents, “from further writing, printing, publishing or causing to be published or printed or circulated, or otherwise, publishing of and concerning the plaintiff, the statement contained in the Daily Sun (pages 47-49) and The Leadership (pages 3 to 8) newspapers of December 12, 2013 and which statements are alleged to have reproduced the letter written by the defendant to the President entitled: ''Before it is too late'' or similar statements pending the determination of the motion on notice.”

The judge ordered the applicant to, “execute a bond with the Registrar of the court to pay such damages as shall be assessed should it turn out that the order ought not to have been granted in the first place.”

He adjourned hearing of the main suit to December 10, 2014.

Kashamu had, shortly after the content of the letter became public, sued Obasnajo for alleged defamation of character.

He argued that the defendant (Obasanjo) “maliciously and recklessly published a letter titled, ‘Before it is too late,’ which contained words which he (Obasanjo) knew to be false.”

In his writ of summons, Kashamu said the criminal imputation made against him by Obasanjo in his letter, has injured him (Kashamu).

He is praying the court to award in his favour, and against the ex-President, N20 billion for the damage he has suffered as a result of the allegation.

He is praying the court for, “an order awarding the sum of N20 billion only to the plaintiff against the defendants as aggravated and exemplary damages against the defendant for libel falsely and maliciously published by the defendant against the plaintiff in the said letter.

“An order of perpetual injunction restraining the defendant, his agents, servants or privies from publishing or further publishing or cause to be published any defamatory words against the plaintiff to any person or persons; and the sum of N100 million as cost of this action”.

PDP Liars!!! Osun APC Debunks Alleged Discovery of Fake Ballot Papers

OSUN State All Progressives Congress (APC) has debunked the claim by the state Peoples Democratic Party that 11,000 fake ballot papers were discovered in the inspection of electoral documents used in the August 9 governorship poll.

The party’s spokesperson, Kunle Oyatomi, in a statement in Osogbo, the state capital yesterday, said the attention of APC had been drawn to “the blatant falsehood being bandied around by the PDP.

“This claim is nothing, but a joke taken too far by people who are nothing but enemies of progress and development in our dear state. Their past-time is to use all manner of dubious tactics to hoodwink unsuspecting public into believing their good-for-nothing petition has any shred of credibility.”

The Election Petition Tribunal had granted an order of inspection of all polling documents to both the PDP and APC since September 9.

The inspection at the INEC office was in two folds – getting the Certified True Copy of all the result sheets obtained by both parties and scanning the ballot papers for the purpose of forensic analysis.

The APC, in the statement, said: “The only equipment authorised to be brought to the INEC office are the photocopiers and scanners and no other. One wonders how photocopiers and scanners will discover fake ballot as claimed by the PDP liars!

“Our team of inspectors is also on ground inspecting electoral materials and contrary to PDP falsehood, at no time did any PDP representative raised the issue that any ballot paper was fake. So, it is mischievous to state that the INEC was unable to explain the presence of fake ballot papers.

“To buttress the point that the promoters of this falsehood are on a wild goose chase and are all out to entertain themselves, the basis upon which their petition is based is that in almost all the polling units, result sheets were not signed and stamped by the presiding officers, thereby rendering the result null and void.

“However, the certified true copies of the result sheets have shown that the result sheets were signed, stamped and even authenticated by PDP agents in all the polling units being challenged. Curiously, in some units that PDP claimed that election was rigged, it was PDP that had highest scores on the result forms. What an absurdity of a reckless petition?”

The party said the phantom claim of discovery of fake ballot papers was a product of hallucinating minds of dishonorable persons who have no regard for truth and integrity of the judicial process.

It added: “We are in receipt of the Certified True Copy of all Result Forms (EC8A, EC8B, EC8C, EC8D and EC8E), particularly Form EC8A across all the polling units in the 30 local government in the state and we discovered contrary to the PDP claim in their petition that all the result sheets were not only signed, they were stamped by the respective presiding officers and countersigned by the party agents, including PDP agents.

“It is therefore a demonstration of crass irresponsibility of the PDP to now turn a mere inspection of polling documents that had revealed nothing untoward to an avenue where they allocate imaginary votes, which they failed to legitimately earn at the August 9 election to themselves and disturb the peace of the state with their odious noise of a victory that will never be.”

The APC urged its supporters to ignore the alleged “falsehood of PDP, which is merely calculated to hoodwink their paymasters in Abuja.”

“For the PDP pathological liars, we wish they will desist from ignoble act of misleading members of the public, an enterprise that ensured their failure at the August 9, 2014 governorship election in Osun in the first place,” it said.

Source