Following the judgment of the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal that Senator Buruji Kashamu was validly elected to represent the Ogun East Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, reports on the reactions of stakeholders
Expectedly, reactions have been varied and diverse over last Monday’s verdict of the Appeal Court sitting in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, which set aside the judgment of the Ogun State Election Petition Tribunal and ruled that Senator Buruji Kashamu was validly elected to represent the Ogun East Senatorial District in the National Assembly.
Consequent upon the pronouncement by the learned judges that the embattled senator should remain in office as senator, the rerun election ordered by the tribunal would no longer hold. Thus, political activities in the senatorial district, which were on high pitch in preparation for the rerun poll, have mellowed down.
Buruji, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last national assembly election, was dragged before the tribunal by Dapo Abiodun of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on allegations that his declaration as the winner of the Ogun East Senatorial Election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was done in error.
Delivering his judgement, the Tribunal Chairman, Justice Ebiowei Tobi, said that the election was marred with irregularities and non compliance with the Electoral Law. It ordered fresh election in 110 polling units across the senatorial district. Although no date was fixed for the fresh election, the tribunal chairman directed that the exercise should hold within 90 days.
But Kashamu won at the appellate court. Reading the lead judgment, Justice M.L Shuaib, held that the tribunal erred and was partisan, adding that it descended into the arena and scouted for evidence to nullify Kashamu’s election and to truncate his victory.
He held that it was curious, illogical and perverse of the tribunal to place so much reliance on the evidence of a prosecution witness labeled as PW44 and further admit as evidence documents that were clearly inadmissible under the law and also act on such evidence to truncate Kashamu’s victory.?
The three man panel further held that the case of Prince Dapo Abiodun and the All Progressive Congress is a non issue as the material used to nullify the results of elections in some polling units and order re-election is inadmissible in law. The three man panel, comprising of Justices A.G Msheila, M.L Shuaib and Ignatius Agube, also adopted the same judgment for the cross petition filed by Prince Adedapo Abiodun.
Bumpy road to respite
It was not an easy walk to the judicial respite for Senator Kashamu as he had to petition the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, demanding the disbandment of the Ogun State Court of Appeal Panel sitting in Ibadan over allegations of inducement, influence peddling and pervasion of justice.
In two separate petitions written last November to the President of the Court of Appeal, the PDP and Kashamu alleged that the APC had through a Senior Advocate of Nigeria compromised the members of the Appeal Panel empanelled to entertain appeals arising from the outcomes of the National Assembly and States Assemblies Elections petitions in Ogun State.
In the petition dated November 18, 2015 and signed by the Secretary of the PDP in Ogun State, Alhaji Semiu Shodipo?, the party faulted the decision of the tribunal in ordering fresh elections in certain wards, even when APC did not make such prayers.
According to Shodipo, the “allegations of compromise of the trial tribunal members by the APC candidates led to petitions submitted to the National Judicial Council against the said tribunal members. This petition is however written to seek your Lordship’s intervention in respect of the appearance of a clear likelihood of bias on the part of the Justices of the Court of Appeal empanelled to sit as the Elections Petitions Appeal Tribunal (at the Court of Appeal, Ibadan) in respect of appeals from the judgment of the Ogun State trial Tribunal”.
He added: “It is in the above circumstances that we humbly request that you intervene and save us from a situation that could occasion a miscarriage of justice by reconstituting the panel in such a way that its independence and impartiality may be guaranteed.”
As a result of Kashamu’s allegations, it was a new panel, which took over from the earlier one, accused of bias by Kashamu, that eventually delivered judgment on the appeal to all parties in the case, in spite of spirited efforts by the APC and other parties, to caution the Judiciary against allowing itself to be stampeded by the petitioners.
Implications
Apart from politicians giving mixed reactions over the development, residents of the senatorial district also spoke on the implications of the judgment, which has put paid to any hope that Kashamu may still be displaced from the national assembly by the courts. From Ijebu Ode to Sagamu, echoes of the judicial respite handed the embattled senator by the Ibadan court keep reverberating.
As expected, Kashamu hailed the judgment of the appellate court, describing it as a victory for democracy and the good people of Ogun East Senatorial District.
?”I dedicate this victory to the Almighty Allah ‘Sub ana wata’alla.’ I am happy at the verdict of the Court of Appeal. I am happy that justice has been served. I am particularly elated that the judiciary has once again risen to the occasion as the last hope of the common man.?I am happy that despite the ills of our society, the judiciary still boasts of men and women of integrity and great courage who can resist filthy lucre and stand up for the truth and justice.
“I salute the good people of Ogun East Senatorial District who overwhelmingly gave me their mandate. I thank my party leaders, elders, associates and supporters, for standing by me all through the litigation. I thank my legal team, the media, clerics, the youths, students, artisans, okada riders, market men and women, for their best wishes, prayers and support,” he said.
But a chieftain of the APC in the state, Chief Tele Buraimoh, cautioned the senator against labeling his victory as that of democracy because, “Everything about Kashamu is undemocratic. How then can he say his questionable victory is that of democracy and the good people of or district? It is neither. Although the court has the final say, the fact remains that Kashamu is not the best we can have as the senator representing us in the national assembly.
“And for those of us who were on ground here in Ijebu during the election, it is not possible to forget all that we witnessed simply because Kashamu’s lawyers did a good job of convincing the Appeal Court on his case. The judges were not here. They merely relied on the evidences brought before them. We witnessed many things that were not mentioned in the court.
Ogun East will come out of this better. We have learnt our lessons and I am sure the people know better now. How can Kashamu concentrate at the national assembly when the NDLEA recently announced that his case with them is not over yet? How can he represent us appropriately when he is still needed in America to defend himself? For me, the implications of this verdict on the good people of Ogun East are many, but the law is the law,” he said.
However, Comrade Bosun Adetu, convener of the Vigil for Good Governance (VFGG), is of the opinion that the scenario in the senatorial district is a typical example of democracy at work. According to the Sagamu, Ogun State-born pro-democracy activist, “those complaining about the type of representation we will get from Kashamu in the national assembly need to learn about the tyranny of the majority.
“While I will continue to say that Ogun East, an area that produced political giants like the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief Bisi Onabanjo, Pa Abraham Adesanya, Chief Olabiyi Durojaiye, Pa Lanihun Ajayi, Senator Gbenga Kaka, Otunba Gbenga Daniel and numerous others, should be represented by a better person at the national assembly, I am of the opinion that the verdict reflects democracy at its best.
At times, the majority becomes tyrannical and imposes the very wrong option on the people even when the minority tries to point the right way to go. When this happens in a democracy, we all pay the price and bear the brunt. This is the exact scenario in Ogun East today. During the election, our people made a choice. The Appeal Court just affirmed that choice. Good or bad, we must live with it and learn from this incident,” Adetu said.
