Kwara Assembly: Constituents Pick Holes In Court Ruling That Nullified Taiye Afolabi’s Victory..Petition NJC, NBA, CDHR, SERAP

The issue of the  court ruling that  made Otunba Taiye Afolabi lose his parliament seat  sequel to the nullification of his victory in the House of Assembly election held on March 18, 2023 , has resurfaced .

Team@orientactualmags.com learned that this was brought to the fore through the  petition sent to the  National Judicial Commission (NJC) , the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Committee for Defence of Human Right (CDHR),  the Socio-economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) among others by some members of Odo –Ogun state constituency.

 They want the Appeal Court to  revisit and reconsider a three-member panel’s ruling that took the  decision to end Afolabi’s membership of the state house of assembly..

 Members of the panel that took the decision to annul Afolabi’s victory are Justice Sybil O. Nwaka Gbagi, Justice Cordelia I. Jombo-Ofo, and Justice Oyebisi F. Omoleye.

Otunba Taiye Afolabi, who was the only PDP lawmaker, had represented Odo- Ogun state constituency, Oyun local government, in the Kwara state house of assembly until the nullification of his victory by the Court of Appeal on November 28, 2023.

 The Court of Appeal had subsequently declared the APC candidate, Hon Musa Yusuf Atoyebi as real winner of the house of assembly election and he had since been sworn in as a member of the state parliament.

 Picking holes in the court decision in question , the aggrieved constituents in the petition sent  to the National Judicial Commission (NJC) , Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and others which was signed by Rauf Dele Yusuf , demanded  that  the appeal court judgment which they described as controversial should be revisited.

In the  petition at issue, the constituents submitted that ‘the State House of Assembly Petition Tribunal had before then rightfully dismissed the petition filed  by Hon Yusuf Musa against  Otunba Afolabi’.

Recall that  the House of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal headed  by Justice TT. Asua, had dismissed the petition filed  against Afolabi and upheld his victory.

 ‘The sacking of the PDP lawmaker by the Appeal Court on the grounds that he had allegedly presented false documents  was against the rule of law.

As constituents, we ask if it was right for the court to make its ruling by imposing an issue that was not part of the reliefs  the petitioners had sought from the court. 

The introduction of new issues that were not part of the reliefs  the petitioners had sought from the court is highly worrisome and suggested a departure from  forgery allegations against him.

We consider this judgment as a deliberate twist of natural law of justice and total elevations of technicalities over the rule of law and natural justice which are the principles that should guide the court from arriving at any decision’  they submitted.

The aggrieved constituents also alleged that external forces  influenced the  appeal court justices’ decision.

 ‘Your prompt attention in respect of this matter is crucial  and will help to restore faith in the Nigerian judiciary and uphold the principles of fairness and justice’ the constituents added.

 They also noted that the release of the certified true copy (CTC)  of the ruling has given birth to controversy sequel to alleged discrepancies between what was contained in the ruling delivered by the Appeal Court  justices and  the CTC-Team@orientactualmags.com
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