The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has expressed shock over an alleged condemnation of the reconstituted Osun State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal.
The party said it was also worried that the PDP was allegedly threatening violence if it loses at the tribunal.
In a statement in Osogbo, the state capital, by its spokesperson Kunle Oyatomi, APC described the PDP’s proposed action as “very irresponsible”.
The party said a statement credited to PDP’s Southwest Secretary, Bunmi Jenyo, to cause “mass revolution” if its “perception of justice” was not served by the tribunal, must be condemned by all right-thinking Nigerians.
It said: “By this assertion, the PDP has exposed its desperation to win, even if the justices say it lost the election. The statement is forewarning the security agencies that the PDP is preparing for violence, if it loses at the tribunal.
“In trying to run down the tribunal members and indeed the President of the Court of Appeal, the PDP accused the President of Appeal Court, her husband and her son as certified members of the APC. Therefore, the PDP is saying the President of Court of Appeal cannot dispense justice in the matter.
“That’s arrant nonsense; assuming that the allegations were true. The fact that the Appeal Court President is not sitting on the matter destroys PDP’s argument. If she were sitting on the tribunal, the PDP might have a case. But in this instant, the President of the Court of Appeal, by law, is discharging her responsibility to set up the tribunal. Nobody else is empowered to do so under our law.
“If the PDP, therefore, is questioning the authority of the President to constitute the tribunal, it should be told flat out that it is over-reaching its limit.
“The PDP has no power whatsoever under the Constitution to question the authority of the Judiciary in this matter, except, of course, it would sue for the removal of Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa as President of the Court of Appeal. The onus of the proof of guilt rests on the PDP.
The question is: what is the crime of this woman?
“We are inclined to believe that the PDP is on edge because it could not penetrate the current set-up of the tribunal to do its fraudulent bidding. No matter how strongly the PDP tries to question the integrity of the judges, it would not be able to frustrate their work.
“If the PDP were smart, it should go to the tribunal with solid legal argument and proof that will not only convince the judges, it will also be clear to the layman. No amount of desperation can win this case for the PDP.
Source: The Nation