*He followed due process—ACN

BY GBENGA OLARINOYE

OSOGBO – The main opposition party in Osun State, the Peoples’ Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday condemned the recent release of four persons who were convicted for the gruesome murder of  a former member of the State House of Assembly, Mr. Odunayo Olagbaju, in December 2001.

A statement by the party’s Publicity Secretary, Funmi Lamuye, stated that the party was shocked to learn that the state governor, Mr Rauf Aregbesola, had granted pardon to the convicts as part of activities marking his one year in office.

Late Olagbaju was murdered in Ile Ife in December 2001 by some people in the heat of the crisis between two factions of  Alliance for Democracy government led by then Governor Bisi Akande and his deputy, Iyiola Omisore.

The state government said state pardon was given to the convicts based on the recommendation of the state Advisory Council on Prerogative of Mercy, adding that the governor was constitutionally empowered to grant pardon as he has followed due process.

The state government through the Director, Bureau of Communication and Strategy, Mr. Semiu Okanlawon, said “the governor gave pardons to those deserving based on recommendations from the advisory council which comprises men and women of honour. The prison authorities also wrote to confirm that the people were of good behaviour and deserving good gesture, there are documents to confirm this.”

The PDP statement read in parts: “We wish to condemn in its entirety the decision of the Rauf Aregbesola administration to free convicts that confessed to have played a part in the assassination of Late Odunayo Olagbaju

“While the State Chapter of the PDP agrees that the Governor reserves the right to free prisoners, it is rather suspicious the kind of interest the ACN government has in the case of those that willingly confessed to have killed the vibrant legislator, who represented Ife Central State Constituency between 1999 and 2001.”

Meantime, Osun  Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, has described a statement credited to the state PDP on the exercise of the constitutional right of Governor Rauf Aregbesola on the release of some purported self confessed participants in the assassination of Odunayo Olagbaju as irrational.”

A statement by the party’s Director of Publicity and Strategy, Mr Kunle Oyatomi, said: “There is nothing sensible in the statement by the PDP condemning the exercise of the constitutional prerogative of mercy that Governor Rauf Aregbesola made recently on the release of some purported self-confessed participants in the assassination of Odunayo Olagbaju.”

The statement read in part: “It is a good thing that PDP itself acknowledged the fact that Governor Aregbesola has the constitutional power to do what he did”.