perversion of justice in respect of petition No: EPT/NA/01/2015-Mr. Ismail Biyi & Anor V. Adesegun Adekoya & ORS
29th October 2015
The Chairman
National Judicial Council
Supreme Court Complex
Three Arms Zone
Abuja
Dear Sir,
PERVERSION OF JUSTICE IN RESPECT OF PETITION NO: EPT/NA/01/2015-MR. ISMAIL BIYI & ANOR V ADESEGUN ADEKOYA & ORS
I am a member of the House of Representatives representing Ijebu North/Ijebu East/Ogun Waterside federal constituency, Ogun state and the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party [PDP] at the general election held on the 28th of March 2015. I am also the 1st respondent in the above captioned petition in which the All Progressives Congress [APC] candidate, Ismail Biyi challenged my return as the duly elected Member representing Ijebu North/Ijebu East/Ogun Waterside federal constituency at the National Assembly Election Petition Tribunal, Ogun state under the chairmanship of Hon. Justice Ebiowei Tobi.
I am constrained to write to bring to your attention certain underhand dealings involving the members of the tribunal comprised of Justice Ebiowei Tobi [Chairman], Stanley A. Lawal [Member] and Adamu Usman [Member], which have resulted in the perversion of justice in the judgment delivered on the APC’s petition on the 9th of October 2015.
Sometime in August 2015 soon after the conclusion of trial in the petition a prominent member of the APC in Ogun state [one Mr. Lanre Shekoni] informed our leader and senator representing Ogun East senatorial district Senator Buruji Kashamu that his party leadership had sent messages to the members of the tribunal through a very senior citizen of the state and that the tribunal members had promised to assist the APC by annulling his return and ordering a re-run of the election in the senatorial district. Mr. Shekoni also told Senator Kashamu that the tribunal promised to also annul my election as a member representing Ijebu North/Ijebu East/Ogun Waterside federal constituency in the House of Representatives.
Upon receiving that information Senator Kasahamu requested Mr. Shekoni to write a letter to the tribunal to ensure that they do not yield to the pressure of the APC leadership to pervert the course of justice. He indeed wrote that letter which was to be dispatched to the tribunal but upon seeking legal advise our lead counsel Prince Ajibola Oluyede advised us not to send such letter as it may turn out to be counter productive. We heeded the advise of our lawyer and did not send that letter. A copy of that letter is enclosed for your ease of reference.
We had cause to be worried when again sometime in early October before the delivery of the judgment scheduled for the 9th of October 2015 some APC members were seen rejoicing and bosting to everyone that they would secure a rerun of the election. Our suspicion was heightened when by Thursday 8th of October the leadership of the party distributed branded t-shirts to members of the APC and they had bought cows and were making merriment in celebration of their anticipated victory even before the reading of the judgment of the tribunal.
It was after the delivery of the judgment when we received the certified true copy that I confirmed that indeed there was some underhand dealings between the members of the tribunal and the APC leadership and that I ought not to have ignored the first information we received about it prior to the judgment.
Upon a study of the judgment I discovered that while the APC challenged 64 polling units in the federal constituency on the grounds of irregularities and non-compliance with the provisions of the Electoral Act, the tribunal went ahead to cancel the result of 222 polling units which were not part of the polling units challenged by APC on grounds of irregularities and non compliance. Had the APC complained about these polling units in their petition, my lawyers would have been in a position to provide evidence in respect of those polling units.
I was shocked because I am aware that the tribunal has no power to cancel polling units, which were not challenged in the petition before it.
I was however more shocked when I discovered that the entries that the tribunal used in the judgment as the basis for its decision that there were irregularities and discrepancy in the scores of the parties in the INEC FORMS EC8A [II] and EC8B [II] did not emanate from the result sheets and voters registers submitted to the tribunal in evidence. A certified copy of the judgment is enclosed for your ease of reference.
While I was still pondering over the mystery, I had the privilege of reading the judgment delivered by the same tribunal in respect of the senatorial election held on the same day. In that judgment I found that the tribunal had stated that there was no evidence of lack of accreditation in the senatorial district whereas in my case the same tribunal held that there was no accreditation in many polling units and as a result cancelled the results of those polling units. The question then arose as to how the tribunal came to such conclusion when in the last general election the presidential, senatorial and House of Representatives elections were held concurrently with a single accreditation being done for the three positions and each voter being issued with three ballot papers at the same time. A certified copy of the judgment in the senatorial election is also enclosed.
It has become clear to me that the report we got about the shady dealings between the members of the tribunal and the APC was true and that the tribunal was influenced to act beyond its powers to cancel the result of 222 polling units in order to ensure that my margin of win which is 8, 933 votes is cleared off to pave way to order a rerun.
I therefore write to lodge this formal complaint about the conduct of the members of the tribunal and to request that you use your good offices to carry out a thorough investigation of this matter and to ensure that anyone found culpable is prosecuted.
The judiciary is the last hope for the common man and a situation where judges would give judgments on the basis of external influences and relationships does not augur well for this country and its citizenry. I however have confidence in your zero tolerance for corruption in the judiciary and believe that you would kindly give this matter the attention it deserves.
Yours faithfully,
Hon. Adesegun Adekoya
CC:
President, Customary Court of Appeal
Hon. Justice Stanley A. Lawal (Customary Court of Appeal)
Chief Justice, Delta State High Court
Hon. Justice Ebiowei Tobi (Delta State High Court), Effurun.
Chief Judge, Borno State High Court
Hon. Justice Adamu Usman (Borno State High Court)
