By Denrele Animasun

“If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.” -Nelson Mandela

Who would have thought that the West is considering working with Syria to get rid of ISIS? They say, my friend’s enemy is my enemy.  So when does your enemy become your friend? It is all about interest and changes in perspectives. So you see, there is a permanent interest but no permanent friends.  At the moment, Oyinlola is very pally pally with Aregbesola. Aregbesola on the election trail goes as far as describing Oyinlola as his brother. Just in case you have forgotten the former was a sworn enemy of the latter. The former Governor stole the mandate of Aregbesola and even swore to run the Ogbeni out of town. You probably remember the Osun/Osogbo episode where the Good Lord saved the Ogbeni from assassination.

Of course, Oyinlola eventually lost at the tribunal and the rest is now history. Can you believe the prince and commoner are now best pals? Now the grapes are sour and the prince of Okuku is now in the same party with APC. You have to see Oyinlola on the hustling. He speaks impeccable Yoruba punctuated with proverbs. In company of his sworn enemies were Akande, Tinubu, Oyegun and many others. Would you believe it? Obasanjo was in Osogbo at the election? He did not offer a word against Aregbesola.
As the Yoruba say: A gbehin ma fo ohun, amo ti eni to nse (A man who would not say a word, you would not know who he supports.) Well, there are speculations but the big man would not be drawn on that. He remains tight-lipped.

Political boomerang
Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value. -Albert Einstein
On the case of Omisore, I went through my father’s book, the VOICE OF REASON, volume 2.( It is as relevant then as it is now ).It was first published on Sunday, 18th May, 2008,I found this gem titled “the law and Omisore:”

“People have expressed surprise at the audacity of PDP and, by extension, of Iyiola Omisore, to propose and win a senatorial election in Osun State.

I have in turn been amazed at the people. They hold their belief that Iyiola should not have been fielded not to talk of winning an election at all. Simply, because the former Osun State Deputy Governor was facing a case of murder. Iyiola is just an accused. In the face of the law, he is just a suspect. He remains innocent until the contrary is proved. He, therefore, reserves the right to stand for election, to vote and be voted for. As to audacity, the case of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana should satisfy the curious. Dr. Nkrumah was in prison when his party nominated him for election in the old Gold Coast. He went from prison to become his country’s prime minister in 1957.

From the Omisore perspective, the man will soon be sprung from Agodi prison where he is currently cooling his heels. I may be a lay man but I see the way is being cleared for his going back to normal life and to the senate.

From the evidence I read from the court as reported by the newspapers, the assassinations charge cannot hold, a case of armed robbery seems to have been established but that leaves it wide open. If the one who sang loftily about his prowess was at the Bar Beach when the murder was being committed now says his lawyer put him to implicate Omisore, the prosecution is holding the end of the stick. Now, the court says Omisore can make a bail bid. Of course, a senator of the Federal Republic has automatic self-recognition. There has been a number of robbery cases unsolved and it will be no surprise if this joins the number.

If, however, a man of the stature and achievements of   James Ajibola Ige, SAN. Minister of Justice, can be so cut down and he joined the queue of the unsolved murders, is a warning that no-one is safe here”.

It is so prophetic. You wonder why people lose faith in Nigeria when it comes to justice and politics.

So fast forward a mere three weeks after the 9th August, 2014 governorship election in Osun State. Senator Iyiola Omisore lost the election and he has filed a petition before the state elections tribunal in Oshogbo.

He has rejected the August 9th election results and he alleged that there were massive irregularities and massive fraud perpetrated by All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state.

In a signed statement, Omisore wrote: that the election results were littered with monumental irregularities. And that  according to  him;  “We have decided to challenge this brazen attempt to subvert the wishes of the electorate who came out to support our Rescue Mission Campaign, and gubernatorial candidate of the Osun State People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the tribunal as provided for by the constitution and electoral laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Not sure who the “we” refers to; is it his party or we as the people of Osun?

Furthermore, he went on to explain that; “In our effort, we are mindful of the massive investment in deceit-driven propaganda unleashed on the citizens of Osun State by the APC. And that the opposition deployed O-YES cadets as election officers in order to compromise the valid votes of the people of the state.”

Omisore has promised to have their legal team “reveal shocking graphic details of pre-election rigging led by the leadership of the APC who had directed that all its officers relocate to Osun State before the election in addition to the subversive roles these ubiquitous officials played in the election as they compromised some of the INEC officials,”
Omisore has got form and while everyone has packed up and gone on with life he is determined to get the results reviewed and of course, favour him.

This is despite his party leader and his party accepting that the right man won on the day.  For Omisore it is not over by a long short, well, not until he is given what he believes belongs to him.