The All Progressives Congress (APC) has said Justice Adeniyi Ademola
did not order the 37 members of the House of Representatives who
defected to the APC to vacate their seats because he is not competent
to issue such a ruling, as the issue of whether not not they can
defect was not before him
In a statement issued in Lagos on Tuesday by its Interim National
Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the party however said it
will appeal the ruling because Justice Ademola’s perpetual injunction
restraining the concerned lawmakers from participating in motions and
debates in the House is unconstitutional and defeats the very purpose for
which the members were elected into the House.
It said Justice Ademola’s unsolicited comments were clearly
gregarious, unnecessary, superfluous and has no foundation in law or
fact, hence should be ignored.
APC asked the Chief Justice of Nigeria to act urgently to sanction
Justice Ademola for engaging in mischief that could bring the bench
into disrepute.
”If this case had been issued a day later than Monday, we would have
said the Judge was caught in the web of April Fool! Alas, he indeed
made the ruling on Monday, hence the need for us to take it very seriously
for several reasons.
”Firstly, the question whether the House of Representatives members
should vacate their seats was not a question before Justice Ademola
for determination. The only question for him to determine was whether
the APC members, with their numerical strength at that time, had the
right to change the House leadership such as the Majority Leader,
Chief Whip and their deputies. So Justice Ademola had no business
commenting on seats being vacated.
”Secondly, it is highly unprofessional and unethical for one Judge to
delve into a
matter that is sub judice in another court. A Judge should not make
comments on matters being litigated in another court. The question of
seats being vacated or otherwise is being heard by Justice Ahmed
Mohammed in the Federal High Court in Abuja who, on 29 March 2014,
said the issue was still live before him and is not ripe for
Judgment,” the party said
APC recalled the alarm it raised in a statement on Dec. 14th 2013,
that the PDP is shopping for a pliant Judge who will be heavily
induced to do its bidding in the case over the defections from the
ruling party to the APC.
In that statement, the main opposition party warned against any
attempt by the PDP and the Presidency to turn back the hands of the
clock as far as the cleaning up of the judiciary is concerned, by
inducing a servile and disreputable Judge to do the duo’s bidding.
Quoting from that statement, APC said: ”We recognize the efforts of
the present CJN to sanitize the Judiciary since she assumed the mantle
of leadership but she
should not allow any black leg to reverse the gains that have been
recorded on the altar of unmitigated avarice. This is because if that
happens, Nigerians will hold the Judiciary vicariously liable for the
catastrophic consequences that may follow.”
Noting that its alarm has now proven to be prescient, the party
wondered whether there was any link between what is clearly an
exercise in judicial rascality and President Goodluck Jonathan’s
recent boast in Kwara that the PDP would soon retrieve its ‘stolen’
mandate from those who defected from the PDP to the APC.
”That presidential boast raises the following questions: What did the
President know and when did he know it? Was this judgement procured by
the PDP for a price, in which case the President’s statement amounted
to a Freudian Slip? Are we to expect more of this?
”It is necessary to unravel this so the PDP and the presidency, in
their desperation,
will not paint the judiciary with their brush of failure and crash our
democracy,”
it said.
Alhaji Lai Mohammed
Interim National Publicity Secretary
