The All Progressives Congress in Ogun State has berated the Peoples Democratic Party and the lawmaker representing Ogun-East senatorial district, Senator Buruji Kashamu, over a petition they wrote against the National and State Assemblies Elections Petitions Tribunal in Ogun State.

The Justice Henry Olusiyi-led tribunal, in its October 23 judgment, had ordered fresh elections in 110 units, a decision both the PDP and Kashamu appealed against.

Kashamu and the PDP subsequently accused the APC of bribing the tribunal. The PDP accused the APC of channelling N150m through a senior advocate to help it get a favourable judgement in the Court of Appeal in Ibadan, even as the PDP asked for a disbandment of the appeal panel.

In separate petitions to the President of the Appeal Court, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, both Kashamu and the PDP asked for the disbandment of the tribunal.

However, in a statement signed by its Publicity Secretary in Ogun State, Sola Lawal, the APC warned that the allegations levelled against the judiciary by the PDP was assuming incendiary proportions such that, if not checked, it could compromise the integrity of the institution of justice.

The APC pointed out that the credibility of the judiciary had come under attack by the PDP after losing the last general elections. The APC wondered whether it was not the same judiciary which operated during the PDP’s 16-year rule at the centre.

The APC noted that Kashamu and the PDP were only victims of “morbid fear having realised the futility of their case against the APC while opting for vainglorious self-help to avoid an imminent and sure disgrace in the public space.”

It added, “It is to the credit of the crumbling edifice of Kashamu to be economical with the truth. The actual plan is to put a coy in the wheel of justice and further desecrate the noble temple of justice through subterfuge and archaic underhand methods.

“In their confusion, Kashamu and his party with whom impunity sits pretty well, have, in futility, embarked on a search for a society of Frederick Douglas’ intellectual ingenuity where justice is denied, poverty thrives and ignorance prevails. One is in made to feel the society is an organised conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade such that no one or property is safe.”

SOURCE: PUNCH