Group Calls On Party Leaders To Wade Into Osun APC Crisis That Earned Fatai Diekola Arrest & Detention

A group for promotion of good governance in Osun state, Tiwa ‘n’ L’Osun has called for party leaders to wade into the All Progressives Congress crisis that earned popular figure Alhaji Fatal Diekola arrest and detention.

According to the statement issued by the group
“The recent developments in our great State, the State of Osun, concerning the arrest and detention of Alhaji Fatai Diekola, a prominent leader of our great party, All Progressives Congress (APC), have generated enough furore within the populace and on the ever-volatile social media, while accusations and counter-accusations are being traded by supporters of various camps that exist within the party.

Due to this ugly development which is capable of further polarising the party, it is considered imperative for us to call for restraint and appeal to all leaders and members of our party to be introspective. While it is the duty of the police and the State as an entity to maintain peace and order and prosecute any suspected offender, it is disturbing to learn that the magistrate before whom Alhaji Fatai Diekola and others were arraigned, refused to grant an oral application for bail; an act likely to cause breach of peace, insisting that a written application be filed by counsel representing the defendants. We understand that it was on that basis that His Worship adjourned the session to the 18th day of July, 2017 when the court will hear the written application, which is to be filed by the defendants’ counsel and subsequently ordered the defendants to be remanded in Ilesha Prisons in the time being.

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It must be conceded that it is within the discretion of a magistrate to decide in what form an application before him should come; it must also be noted that a proper exercise of discretion on this issue should have weighed in favour of considering the oral application as it came. The decision of the Magistrate in this wise, can only give rise to speculation of alleged external influence which it has, probably, unwittingly generated, knowing the flexibility of our society towards such.

While we appeal to our fellow citizens to maintain peace and await the judicial decision on the 18th day of July, we appeal to our party leaders – at both the state and national levels – to wade into the various crises bedevilling the party which cannot be excused as one of the primal causes of our loss in the just-concluded Osun West Senatorial by-election of last Saturday in such a dismal manner.

A stitch in time saves nine, as we cannot approach the 2018 gubernatorial election in a factionalized condition.”

‘Kunle Rasheed Adegoke [K-RAD]
Founder, Tiwa n Tiwa L’Osun