PDP members comment on yesterday Court verdict I Approached Supreme Court To Sanitise Judiciary, Says Oni FORMER governor of Ekiti State, Chief Segun Oni, Friday said his decision to approach the Supreme Court to challenge the ruling of the Appeal Court which removed him from office, was not a mere judicial gamble but was intended to inject sanity into the judiciary which he alleged has been bastardised by some unscrupulous judges. Oni, who spoke at a thanksgiving service held at the Methodist Church of Nigeria, Tabernacle of Praise in Ifaki Ekiti, his country home, immediately after the verdict said he would not leave politics because of the loss he suffered at the Apex Court. He said: “After the Appeal Court judgment in Ilorin, I felt disenchanted and I went to the Appeal Court to seek reversal because I felt the oppressors will be given more strength if they are not challenged. “I was determined to pursue the case to the end and I thank God we have been able to achieve this because some people wished us dead along the line. “You can see that since people like us had risen to challenge some unbridled tendencies in the judiciary that judges and other judicial officers are now careful. They have seen that people can rise up and ask question if they felt aggrieved with their judgments. Even while pursuing the case, the devil made offers, but we refused. "The suit was not filed out of desperation, but was meant to infuse sanity in the system, so that Nigerians can have hope in the judiciary, the last hope of the common man.. “At times when God wants to favour you, he will refuse to hear your prayers. We are not discouraged and not confused. We also are proud to have done what we did. We saw we have been wronged and we refused to keep quiet. The judgment we received was wrong and we decided to pursue it to the last. We did not have the effort but we kept pursuing it. “We knew there was a probability of pursuing and not catching up and catching up without having the power to overpower and take away that we felt belonged to us. We were not playing games. During the struggle, the devil made offers to us which we refused. The revolution has not ended. When people come out of the courts with a loss, they will be satisfied that justice has been done. Its a step in the process. We will be on the rostrum to tell the people to vote against bad government. We are grateful to the Almighty God for doing this for us. The struggle continues, victoria acerta. In his reaction, Senator Ayo Arise, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain in the state, posited that the seven-member Supreme Court justices acted on the side of caution and constitution, rather than ‘entertaining anything novel, adding that the trial of the case could have afforded the apex court the opportunity to adjudicate and deliver a novel and landmark judgment. According to him: “We have accepted the outcome of the verdict. We abide by it and it is law. Today, it did not work for us based on constitution, so we cannot fault the judgment”, Arise said. The PDP Chairman in the state, Chief Makanjuola Ogundipe said: “We are law abiding citizens. We have accepted the outcome of the judgment. Who are we to say no when Supreme Court speaks?” Former governor of the state, Mr. Ayo Fayose admonished his successor Oni not to be dismayed by the court ruling. Fayose said: “Oni has fought a good fight and history will be on your side as a gallant and dogged fighter.”
Posted on: Sat, 01 Jun 2013 13:59:18 +0000
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