Buni’s position as national Chairman, Akpanudoedeh as Sec sacrosanct – Lawyer

By Ikechukwu Okaforadi

The Lead Counsel to Ondo State Governor and the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the governorship election decided yesterday by the Supreme Court, Adeniyi Akintola, has said the position of the Mai Mala Buni and John James Akpanudoedehe, as both national Caretaker Committee Chairman and Secretary of the party, remains sacrosanct.
Speaking to journalists yesterday in Abuja, Adeniyi Akintola, said the position of the Governor is not illegal as being wrongly interpreted by the many people, even as he said contrary to insinuations at some quarters, the candidate of the party in the Anambra State governorship election, slated for November 6, is on a solid ground.
Responding to a question on whether the position of Buni as Yobe Governor is injurious to APC, especially with regards to Anambra State governorship election, Akintola said “You can take that to the bank that the position of the National Chairman of our party and the Secretary is sacrosanct and our members should entertain no fear at all.
“Our candidate in Anambra is on firm ground. The decision of the Tribunal upholding the right of any party member, including those who hold elected offices, to hold party offices remains sacrosanct and that position was affirmed by the Court of Appeal and by the majority judgement yesterday.
“None of the four Justices that gave the majority judgement has anything to say concerning holding of party office concurrently with political offices. By virtue of the position of the Supreme Court, they have the right to determine issues without going into the merit unlike the two lower courts”, he said.
He said there have been a lot of misconceptions since Wednesday, with media lawyers going air, airing views of what they know nothing about, pointing out that some of them are too media driven to be good lawyers.
“You begin to wonder what manners of lawyers will have time to go to the television and radio stations in the morning when his colleagues are out there in the courtrooms and the library. Be that as it may, let me say clearly that I was part of the legal team, number two in the hierarchy of the team of lawyers that defended our candidate.
“Let me make this clear, this is not the first time we are having dissenting judgement in Governorship and Presidential Elections. Because our memory is very short in this clime, maybe we have forgotten that in 1979/80, there was a minority judgement in Awolowo against Shagari.
“A minority judgement remains what it is. It has no efficacy, value. The only value a minority judgement has is for academic purpose and research. You can’t even cite it as an authority. Our jurisprudence doesn’t allow for any efficacy to be attributed to a minority judgement.
“Again, in 2008 in Muhammadu Buhari against Yar’Adua, of which I was present, we had a minority judgement – delivered by eminent jurists, namely Justice Aloma Muktar, who later became CJN, Justice Walter Onoghen, who also became CJN – in their wisdom did not give minority judgement in favour of Buhari.
“So what happened yesterday is not strange. All the noise and hullabaloo baffles one. Why should anybody in his or her right senses be attaching so much importance to something that should be in the realm of academic discourse. For those of us in the legal profession, you can’t even go to court and cite it”, he said.