In this report, HEAD POLITICS, MUMINI ABDULKAREEM writes on the reactions that have trailed the court judgement sacking the Basheer Bolarinwa led faction of the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Last week, a High Court in Ilorin under Justice Taoheed S. Umar dropped a bombshell of sort when it delivered the much anticipated judgment over the leadership crisis that had engulfed the Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The court, which recognised the executive committee of the Ishola Balogun-Fulani faction of the party in a judgement that lasted over one and half hours, held that the purported dissolution of the executive committee of the Balogun-Fulani faction was illegal, null and void.
The court, according to reports, further held that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should recognised the list of members of the executive committee presented by the Balogun-Fulani faction.
But since the judgment, the two factions of the party continued where they left off with discordant tunes over the judgement.
Shortly after the court handed down its verdict, one of the counsel to the Bashir Bolarinwa faction of the party, Kamaldeen Gambari, said that they were not satisfied with the judgement, adding that the court acted contrary to the facts placed before it.
Gambari, who said that the judgement would not stand, expressed the hope that the Appeal Court would upturn the judgement.
The National Headquarters of the party followed up the comment of the state counsel suggesting it would not obey the ruling of the Kwara State High Court which reinstated the Balogun-Fulani led faction the party had earlier said it had expelled.
Reacting to the ruling Wednesday night, the APC national headquarters said its decision to expel Mr Balogun-Fulani remained.
“We wish to restate the National Working Committee’s (NWC) decision to expel the erstwhile Ishola Balogun Fulani-led All Progressives Congress (APC) Executive in Kwara State,” APC national spokesperson Lanre Issa-Onilu said in a statement, dismissing the court ruling as “misinterpretations”.
“The decision to expel Ishola Balogun Fulani and others is well within the powers of the NWC, which investigated and deliberated on the anti-party activities of the sacked state executive,” Mr Issa-Onilu added.
However, Balogun Fulani in his reaction to the statement of Onilu insisted that the midweek judgment directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to recognise his executive committee and accept the list of candidates submitted by his group to the electoral umpire for the 2019 general elections.
Balogun-Fulani, who was flanked by other members of his committee during the media briefing, described Issa- Onilu’s position as false, saying since the APC spokesman was not on board during the initial crisis he had little authentic information to comment on.
He added : “We read online and on social media that Kwara State APC Executive led by Balogun-Fulani has been expelled. We make bold to say that Lanre Issa Onilu is lying because the APC constitution spelt out the procedure for discipline under Section 21b.
“Up till date, no letter, query on compliance has been made against me or any of the executive members under my leadership. We have beem in court since July 2018 where a court of competent jurisdiction has given an injunction on the party’s national chairman that status quo be maintained until determination of the main case.
“Therefore no action can be taken outside that order. For emphasis, no letter or query has ever been received from the party’s national headqaurters as regards the activities of Kwara state APC executive committee or any of her members in accordance with Article 21b of APC Constitution.
“Therefore, we wish to state that the purported statement issued by Onilu, who was not on board the APC executive when the issue started is a blatant lie, null and void and has no place in law. We urge all members of the public, especially APC members and well wishers to disregard the divisive statement purportedly made by Onilu and focus on the victory of the APC candidates in the 2019 general election”.
In his reaction to the issue, a former Secretary-General of the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA), Kwara State branch, Bar Suleiman Abaya, said although he is yet to peruse the judgement, but from what has been reported, that the actions and activities of the BOB faction is null and void suggests that all activities of the faction amount to nullity.
He added that the extension by the court directing the national body to henceforth deal with the faction of Balogun-Fulani has added another dimension to the judgement.
“Although all parties involved have been raising arguments for and against the judgement, but my own dispassionate view about it is that the judgment of the court is one of the most fundamental thing in the whole world and it remains binding on all the parties involved.
“And whether one consider it as gutter judgement or not, no individual, be it the president, can upturn such except an appellate court. Mind you, the mere filling of appeal does not constitute a stay of action except a court pronouncement is obtained to that effect.
” By precedent, if you go back from the era of Prof Mahmud Jega as INEC chairman, once a court gives judgement today, INEC must recognised it pending another pronouncement from another higher court. The judgement of a court can only be criticised on appeal and not on the pages of newspapers’, he added.
