Jamiu Yisa
The Peoples Democratic Party has rejected the Court of Appeal ruling that reaffirmed the victory of the lawmaker representing Lagos-East senatorial district, Senator Gbenga Ashafa.
The party has vowed to take the matter to the Supreme Court.
The Lagos State Publicity Secretary of the party, Taofik Gani, while speaking on the ruling, laments that it was unfortunate that most tribunals in Lagos had been compromised.
The PDP Spokesman expressed confidence in the Supreme Court, saying it remained the last hope of the common man.
Gani added that the evidence provided by the PDP in Kogi State was honoured by a court while the same evidence was rejected in Lagos.
The National and State Assemblies Election Petitions Tribunal had, on July 27, dismissed the petition filed by the PDP and its candidate, Olabisi Salis, in the March 28 National Assembly election.
The PDP, subsequently, took the matter to the Appeal Court but the case was also dismissed.
In its case at the Court of Appeal, Salis and the PDP alleged that the judgment of the lower tribunal was erroneous on the grounds that the tribunal erred on many issues in arriving at the decision to dismiss the petition.
The party also questioned the competence of the chairman of the tribunal, stating that he was not qualified to preside over the case.
However, in the final judgement read on Friday by Justice Muhammad Danjuma, the court dismissed the appeal and stated that there was no evidence presented to prove that the tribunal chairman was not qualified to hold the office.