BLAST: ACN CRIES OUT TO JONATHAN

Osun State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has called on President Goodluck Jonathan to get to the root of the 2007 bomb blast in the state and save its leaders from undue harassment by the state government.

In a statement made available to media houses in Osogbo at the weekend, the ACN stated that it was making the appeal based on the refusal of the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Niyi Owolade to release the case file and principal suspect in the incident to a team of investigators from the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mr. Ogbona Onovo.

But in a swift reply, the state AG denied withholding any file, saying his ministry was not charged with investigation of incident but the police.

'The allegation is false. The file is not with me and cannot be with me. The police investigated the matter. The matter has been at the Magistrate Court on holden charge. We only gave advice based on the investigation by the police.

'The people (ACN) have been peddling unnecessary falsehood on the case. But there were 1001 file on criminal case sent to us for advice not only on the bomb blast alone. It is based on the information from the police that we sent the file to the state High Court of justice for adjudication. That a file is in court does not make whoever is mentioned in the file guilty of the case', Owolade stated.

But in the ACN statement, signed by its Director of Research and Strategy, Mr. Sunday Akere, the party queried the sincerity of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) in the state on the matter.  'With the 2011 general elections around the corner and feeling threatened and afraid of defeat, Osun PDP through the state Attorney-General last week filed a fresh suit at the State High Court, Osogbo in which eight ACN leaders were charged for murder in a brazen attempt to arrest them and get them into detention so as to pave way for the PDP to rig the forthcoming election in the state.

'On Wednesday August 25, 2010, a team of detectives sent in from the office of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Abuja arrived Osogbo to take away the case file and the arrested occupant of the vehicle, who till date lives in the cozy comfort of the Government House with only agents of the state having access to him.