The leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party in Ogun State have reminded the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, about the need to take urgent steps in attending to the petition they sent to him on the alleged bias of a judge of the Federal High Court, Lagos, Justice Charles Archibong, in the handling of the case of the crisis in the party in the state.
The leaders said the call becomes urgent in the face of the pronouncement by Archibong, this week, that they should be arrested for contempt.
They described the ruling “as the height of Archibong’s subversion of the rule of law.”
The PDP leaders – Senator Monsurudeen Babatunde Osholake, David Salako, Elder Yemi Akinwonmi, Prince Dele Ajayi, Waliu Taiwo and Olalekan Ojo – said they saw early signals of Archibong’s biases, hence the decision to petition Musdapher.
Copies of the petition were also sent Justice N.I. Auta and Archibong himself.
In accusing the judge of fuelling the crisis in the party, the PDP leaders said Archibong had been granting obnoxious injunctions and rulings in the matter.
Their position in the petition to the CJN was that the judge had “corruptly manipulated judicial processes in favour of his friend.”
The friend in question, according to them, is a chieftain of the party in Ogun State, Buruji Kashamu, who instituted the case against them.
In the petition, they alleged that Kashamu had been boasting that he would send them to jail.
They said in the reminder to the CJN that though no one brought up the issue of contempt of court, Archibong had perfected the papers for the ruling, adding that it was “only his signature and date that were not added before eventually issuing it on Wednesday.”
They alleged that Kashamu had on February 9, 2012 sponsored an advertorial in a national daily using their names.
The advertorial said they had assumed control of the party in obedience to a court order in Ogun State.
On seeing the advertorial, the PDP leaders said they caused another one to be published in the same national newspaper on February 10, 2012, dissociating them from it.
But they said this was not taken into consideration by Archibong when he issued the warrant of their arrest for contempt of his court.
He was, however, accused of having paid attention to another advertorial, signed this time by Kashamu, accusing them of having run afoul of the law of contempt by causing the February 9, 2012 advertorial to be published.
The two-page advertorial signed by Kashamu was published on February 23, 2012.
They said it was based on this that Archibong declared them as having held his court in contempt.
They said the position taken by Archibong for them to be produced in court was done without prior issuance and service of Forms 48 and 49 before the motion for contempt committal was served on them.
They said the game plan was to have them behind bars before the congresses of the party earlier scheduled to start on March 3.
The National Working Committee of the party has, however, cancelled the congresses.
They thus appealed to the CJN to urgently consider their petition before Archibong sends them to jail for offences they never committed.