A’Court President Disbands Appeal Panel on Kashamu’s Senatorial Election

Ademola Babalola

The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, has disbanded an Appeal Court Election Petitions Tribunal handling the case instituted by Senator Buruji Kashamu, challenging the ruling of Justice Ebiowei Tobi of the lower tribunal which nullified his election as the senator representing the Ogun East senatorial district in the National Assembly.

The above followed the inability of the panel to resume sitting yesterday at the Court of Appeal in Ibadan.

Kashamu had alleged foul play over the manner in which the three-man appeal panel was handling his case, a development that prompted him to alert Nigerians through an advertorial in one of the national dailies on Monday.

The disbandment of the panel was linked to a petition filed by Kashamu and his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the president of the Court of Appeal, Justice Bulkachuwa, seeking the disbandment of the appeal panel over allegations of inducement, influence peddling and pervasion of justice.

Kashamu and the PDP alleged that the All Progressives Congress (APC) had compromised members of the panel through a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).

Kashamu was declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as the winner in the election ahead of the APC candidate, Dapo Abiodun, before the nullification of his victory which ordered a re-run of the election in some polling booths.

The tribunal ruling showed that Kashamu has 75,856 votes against Dapo Abiodun’s 70,677 votes.

Reacting to the development yesterday, the APC candidate in the suit, said the decision was a surprise to him, while describing the allegation as completely outrageous.

However, Chairman of the PDP in Ogun State, Dayo Adebayo, said the decision to disband the panel was a victory for Kashamu and the party, stressing that they would look forward to fair hearing under a new panel.

He said: “This is victory for us and everybody. What has happened here was a display of the judiciary’s willingness to be fair to all parties concerned. We have discovered that some leaders have been going around manipulating the process. Abiodun lost in his polling unit, ward and council, how can he challenge a popular candidate like Kashamu who won fairly. We discovered that there were a lot of manipulations being perpetrated by APC leaders. They were sending lawyers to members of the panel, that was why we cried out and the authority concerned took the appropriate step to halt the panel from going ahead.”

Abiodun on his part said although he believed in judicial process, PDP and Kashamu’s allegation would slow down the judicial process, vowing also to win the senatorial seat of the Ogun East senatorial district.

Abiodun said: “I am surprised that the panel was disbanded by the court. My team of lawyers have been here since morning and our expectation was that the appeal would commence at 9 a.m, but the panel was asked to step down for a new one that would be constituted.

But PDP lawyer, Ajibola Oluyede, said such allegation was too weighty to be swept under the carpet.