Lagos: PDP Accuses APC of Manipulating Tribunal
Shola Oyeyipo
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos State has raised the alarm over alleged move by the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Legal Adviser, Mr. Muiz Banire, to influence the rulings of the elections petition tribunal sitting on some petitions of the PDP against the ruling party in the state.
In a reaction on behalf of the party, the state PDP Publicity Secretary, Mr. Taofik Gani, in a statement yesterday alleged that Banire, the counsel for the APC in the petitions, engaged in “frivolous and vexatious judicial processes” to harass PDP candidates who are before the tribunals.
According to Gani, “The PDP has consequently vowed to resist such further harassment inside and outside the courtrooms, just as it is prepared to appeal any miscarriage of justice at the tribunals, and such selected petitions are slated for ruling this week.
“For some time, we have kept quiet and ignored the deliberate antics, manipulations and forms of intimidation employed by the APC legal teams at the various tribunals in the state. They so parade themselves to overwhelm the panel of tribunals. Indeed, Banire, who is a chieftain of the APC and also appears at the tribunals as a counsel is notorious for this act.
“Recently, and in furtherance of his attempt to intimidate our candidates and perhaps frustrate our petitions, he filed contempt committal proceedings against our Lagos West senatorial candidate, Segun Adewale.
“The matter brought in suit with number NA/LEGH/ EPT/LS/8/2015, is to us a deliberate action to arrest, intimidate and or silence our candidate pending the outcome of the ruling already fixed for this week.”
Maintaining that his party views the committal proceeding as part of the APC’s ploy to intimidate PDP, he added that: “They also have been mobilising their stern looking supporters to the tribunals who would usually make provocative utterances at our members.
“We have endured enough and now we want the APC and their lawyer to desist from further attempts to intimidate our petitioners. We want justice and that is why we approached the tribunals. We strongly hope and expect that the tribunals should not adopt any procedure that is not expressly provided for in the electoral act or any other laws to shut us out to the streets.”