[size=14pt]Appeal court: Ex-Senate whip petitions Jonathan, Musdapher[/size]
Written by Taiwo Adisa, Abuja Monday, 28 November 2011

Former Senate Chief Whip, [size=14pt]Senator Kanti Bello[/size], who was the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the April general election in Katsina North senatorial district has petitioned President Goodluck Jonathan, the Chief Justice of Nigeria(CJN), Justice Dahiru Musdapher and the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark, alleging miscarriage of justice in the ruling of the Appeal Court, Kaduna, on his election petition against the candidate of the Congress for Progressive Change(CPC), Senator Abdul Yandoma.

The senator, in a nine-page petition asked for the intervention of the president and the CJN in order to save the judiciary.

The Court of Appeal had, in a judgment delivered on November 16 by Justice Amina Augie over an appeal brought before it by Senator Abdul Yandoma, CPC candidate representing Katsina North senatorial district, set aside the decision of the elections petitions tribunal sitting in Katsina.

The appellate court held that the decision of the tribunal nullifying Senator Yandoma’s election and ordering bye-election was wrong, adding that the issue was a pre-election matter which it said the election tribunal had no jurisdiction to delve into.

But in the petition dated November 24, Senator Bello, who also copied the petition to the acting National Chairman of PDP, Alhaji Kawu Baraje, wondered why the Appeal Court failed to await the Supreme Court judgment in another suit questioning the candidacy of Senator Yandoma.

The Senator accused the Court of Appeal of desperation, adding that the court had “thrown honour, decency, common sense and justice overboard.”

He further stated in the petition: “why the indecent haste to hear and determine the appeal, this act by the Court of Appeal can only but diminish the administration of justice in the eyes of the right thinking members of the society and ultimately erode our confidence in the judiciary as an impartial arbiter of our disputes.”

http://www.tribune.com.ng/index.php/news/31906-appeal-court-ex-senate-whip-petitions-jonathan-musdapher