The Senator Ahmed Makarfi-led faction of the Peoples Democratic Party has dissociated itself from the petition written against the Justice Jummai Sankey-led Appeal Panel of the Court of Appeal.
The party, in a statement signed by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Prince Dayo Adeyeye, on Thursday in Abuja, described the petition as distasteful, offensive and indecent.
Justice Sankey led appeal panel was set up to determine appeals against the judgment of Justice Okon Abang of the Federal High Court on PDP candidate for Ondo State governorship election.
It will be recalled that Biyi Poroye, a factional PDP Chairman in Ondo State, had written a petition against the special appeal panel with various allegations of compromise and likelihood of bias.
Poroye specifically alleged that the panel was constituted to urgently hear and determine the cases because the President of the Court of Appeal had been compromised.
Reacting, Adeyeye said that it was completely out of keeping with the principles, ideology and ethos of the party to make such unsubstantiated allegations against members of the Judiciary.
Adeyeye said: “Over the course of our 16 years in power and in our almost two years out of power, our party has demonstrated respect and reverence for the judiciary.
“In this time, we have ensured that we never besmirched the integrity and reputation of the Judiciary, even when we were not comfortable with the judgments and pronouncements that were given.”
Adeyeye said that neither the writer of the petition nor his sponsors were members of the PDP.
He stated that both the writer and sponsors of the petition were a group of people with powerful “backers within and outside government”.
He also stated that their aim was to bend all institutions of democracy to suit their whims, failing which they were willing to resort to destructive tactics against such institutions.
Adeyeye said: “Even our party is a victim of their destructive tendencies; their attempt is to pervert justice and stop the will of justice from rolling on.”
Adeyeye said that PDP, as a responsible political party, reaffirmed it faith in the judiciary as the last hope of the common man.
He also stated: “We have faith that there are men and women of integrity in the judiciary who ensure that justice is not only done, but that it is seen to be done.
“We use this opportunity to encourage the Judiciary to weather this storm of blackmail, harassment and intimidation currently being heralded by evil men in the country.”
The Makarfi-led faction had approached the appellate court to appeal the judgment on which the Independent National Electoral Commission substituted its candidate, Eyitayo Jedege, for Jimoh Ibrahim.
INEC had cleared Ibrahim’s name submitted to it by the rival Senator Ali Modu-Sheriff-led faction of the PDP.
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