Date Published: 05/10/10

Group warns Appeal Court President over Sokoto, Ekiti, Osun Election Petitions

The Appeal Court President, Justice Ayo Salami has been warned not to drag the judiciary into the mud by “assisting” desperate politicians to truncate the peace of Sokoto, Ekiti and Osun States through questionable verdicts on the ongoing Election Petitions in the States.

The Elections Transparency Group (EJG), which handed down this warning in a statement issued today and made available to journalists, said that; “the Action Congress (AC) leaders in Ekiti State are already thumping their chest that victory is certain for them at the Appeal Court, Ilorin. They are touting the alleged closeness of AC leader and financial, Senator Bola Tinubu to the Appeal Court President as the reason for their assurance.”

According to EJG’s Chairman, Dr. Kazeem Adekunle, “there are reasons to be suspicious over the possibility of Justice Salami using his position to influence the course of justice because of his alleged relationship with Tinubu as exposed by the Chairman of the Senate committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Umaru Dahiru in an affidavits backed advertorials published in some national dailies recently.

“Senator Dahiru, who is also a lawyer, cannot be deemed to be a frivolous politician with regards to the weighty allegations, which Tinubu himself did not debunk. He (Tinubu) had never hidden his closeness with Justice Salami firstly as a Lagosian, who can be prevailed on by Tinubu and other influential Lagosians.

“In the light of this obvious relationship between Justice Salami and Tinubu, we are not ruling out a likelihood of bias in composition of the judges that would sit over the Appeal on the Ekiti State tribunal judgment and that of Osun State when the judgment is eventually delivered.

“In fact, the anthem on the mouth of supporters of the AC in Ekiti today is that Tinubu had instructed Justice Salami to ensure that they got a favourable judgment as a last favour for him (Tinubu).

“Our worry is also not misplaced bearing in mind that they boasted in 2008 that the Justice Bukar Bwala-led tribunal judgment would be thrown out at the Appeal Court and it happened as they predicted.

“Perhaps, as a way of saying ‘thank you’ to the then President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Farouk Abdullahi, they organised a rousing reception in his honour when he retired, even when his home State and even the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) had not organised such reception.

“The reception held at Sheraton Hotels and Towers, Ikeja, lagos was an elaborate occasion that was indeed a roll call of politicians of the AC stock and a sprinkling of lawyers that had and still representing the AC at various election cases.

“Therefore, to us as a group that is working assiduously with other well-meaning Nigerians to deepen democracy and the rule of law in the country, such a lavish reception could not have been organised for Justice Abdullahi for reasons other than saying thank you to the Appeal Court President for a job well done.

“It is against this background that we are once again constrained to call the attention of the National Judicial Council (NJC), the Presidency and other well meaning Nigerians to beam their searchlights on the activities of the clandestine relationship between some judges and the political actors in the AC.

“We, on our part have elected to at the appropriate time bring the attention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) and other anti-corruption agencies to the various underhand deals of notable political actors and their collaborators in various facets of our national life.”