The Ekiti State chapter of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) has urged the Supreme Court not to entertain the appeal filed by ex-Governor Segun Oni of the state, saying it is a “desperate bid to return to the Government House through the backdoor.”
The party in a statement made available to newsmen in Ado Ekiti on Saturday said Oni’s suit at the nation’s apex court had revealed his pernicious intent to railroad the Nigerian judiciary into a perilous voyage of self-destruct driven to its ludicrous apogee.
According to the ACN statement signed by its Director of Media and Publicity, Tai Oguntayo, “hearing the case filed by the ex-governor would amount to extending the circus show he (Oni) started at the Court of Appeal, to the hallowed chambers of the Supreme Court.”
He described the suit as “desperation of the bunch of tragic losers.”
The Ekiti ACN contended that Oni’s recourse to the Supreme Court is an exercise in futility since the Court of Appeal is the terminal point of governorship election petition cases as at October 15, 2010 when the matter was decided in favour of Governor Kayode Fayemi.”
It said “at the time the petition of Dr. Kayode Fayemi was decided by the Court of Appeal in October 2010, the position of the law was as contained in Section 246 of the 1999 Constitution.
“For ease of reference, the relevant portion thereof runs thus: An appeal to the Court of Appeal shall lie as of right from… (b) decisions of the National Assembly Election Tribunals and Governorship and Legislative Houses Election Tribunals on any question as to whether- (i) any person has been validly elected as a member of the National Assembly or of a House of Assembly of a State under this Constitution….
“The decisions of the Court of Appeal, in respect of appeals arising from election petitions, shall be final”, the statement said.
According to the ACN, “judging from the plain, unambiguous and unequivocal provisions of the Constitution quoted above, the putative appeal of Oni is irredeemably a non-starter and a dud bomb, there is absolutely no cause for anyone to bother about it.”
The party called on the Supreme Court not to allow what it called “the unabated assault on the judicial system by Segun Oni and his cohorts” in their pursuit of a very ridiculous, frivolous and vexatious application.
The party said further: “however, the bother surely comes in the measure of havoc the circus show has continued to wreak on the judiciary of this nation.
“The average unsuspecting member of the public, who is actually meant to be hoodwinked by Segun Oni and his court jesters, may not be able to extricate the judiciary as an institution from the desperation of the bunch of tragic losers.
“It is oftentimes too easily concluded that such people are working in cahoots with some high profile judicial officers. No matter how unjustified or unpardonable such a conclusion may be, the misfortune lies in the fact that it is the reality and it spreads across the length and breadth of the globe like a wildfire in the harmattan.
“This must underscore an imperative need on the part of the powers that be in the Nigerian judiciary to halt the scandalizing predilection of Segun Oni and his ilk to drive the judiciary to perdition. Now is the time for the judiciary to act and with uncommon promptitude.
“What Segun Oni has indulged in with unmistakable reckless abandon over one year of his being relieved of his illegitimate tenancy in Ekiti Government House is a record of disdain and disregard for the primordial honour and sanctity of the judicial institution.
“It is indubitably an abuse of court process of the most brazen and disgusting hue. Something urgent and drastic must be done to call him to order”.
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