Bankole, Daniel lose in court again

Posted by admin House, Legislature, Ogun, State News Saturday, February 5th, 2011

A fresh attempt at ensuring that the Independent National Electoral Commission accepts the list of the Ogun State candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party submitted by the state governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel, has suffered another setback.

The PDP and INEC had against an earlier position accepted the lists of candidates submitted for the forthcoming general elections by the PDP faction in Ogun State headed by former President Olusegun Obasanjo and the Minister of Commerce and Industries, Chief Jubril Martins-Kuye.

But in a desperate bid to seek the reversal of the party and INEC’s position, the PDP faction led by Daniel brought an ex-parte motion before a Federal High Court in Abeokuta on Friday, seeking an order of the court to overturn the decision.

The ex-parte motion from 39 applicants sought to restrain INEC from substituting the names earlier forwarded by the Joju Fadairo-led PDP in the state.

House of Representatives Speaker, Mr. Dimeji Bankole, Daniel, the governorship candidate of the group, Mr. Gboyega Isiaka, Daniel’s deputy, Alhaja Salmot Badru, Lola Abiola-Edewor and 34 others were the applicants in the matter.

The move was aimed at legally checkmating Tunji Olurin, Senator Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello and 37 others, who emerged candidates in the congress conducted in Abeokuta by the harmonised Executive Committee of the Ogun State chapter of the PDP.

As the suit was mentioned in court, Justice Rita Ofilli-Ajumogobia refused to allow the hearing of the case, saying that a similar motion had been brought before a Federal High Court in Abuja.

She said, “I will like to avoid confusion in this matter. This is a matter that affects a single party as the other factions are parties in the matter. As soon as they are put on notice and proof of service is secured, the court will fix a date for further hearing.”

While the decision of the court, which was seen as a technical knockout by the Obasanjo group, elicited joy from hundreds of supporters who were in court, it was a different reaction from Daniel’s group, who looked downcast.

The counsel to Olurin, Mr. Ajibola Oloyede, in an interview with journalists shortly after the sitting of the court, condemned what he described as the attempt by the Daniel group to drag the judiciary into politics.

He said, “They wanted to drag the name of the judiciary into political contests. They want to turn judges against one another. Judges in Abuja had given an order and they want to upturn it. Unfortunately, they come to a jurist who knows what she is doing and put them in their place by quickly dismissing their applications.”

The counsel to the Daniel group, Mr. Yemi Oke, said the application was to restrain INEC from taking further action. “The matter is now pending and INEC cannot substitute other names contrary to the ones earlier forwarded to them duly signed by the chairman and the secretary,” he stated.

-Punchwp_posts