Tribunal ‘sacks’ Kashamu as senator

The elections petition tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, capital of Ogun state, on Friday nullified the elections of Buruji Kashamu, representative of Ogun east senatorial district, and Adesegun Adekoya, representative of Ijebu east constituency in the house of representatives.

In his judgement on Friday, Ebiowei Tobi, chairman of the tribunal, said the March 28 poll was fraught with irregularities.

Dapo Abiodun, candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the senatorial had asked the tribunal to annul Kashamu’s victory because he did not win the exercise.

The tribunal granted his prayer and ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct re-run election in 110 polling units within 90 days.

Commenting on the ruling, Kashamu denied being sent out of office, saying the full judgment would be delivered on Monday and there are chances of retaining his seat at the red chamber, since “he is still leading with 5,179 votes”.

“Our attention has been draw to some media reports that the senator representing Ogun east senatorial district, Prince Buruji Kashamu, was today sacked by the election petitions tribunal sitting in Abeokuta, we wish to say that this is not a true reflection of what transpired at the tribunal,” read a statement issued by his media office.

“Although the tribunal has said the full judgment will be made available on Monday, it could not be said to have sacked Kashamu because, according to it, after the removal of voided votes, Kashamu is still leading with 5,179 votes.

“According to the tribunal’s findings, Kashamu has 75,856 votes against Dapo Abiodun’s 70,677 votes. So how can the person leading be said to have been “sacked”? For who? The losing candidate? We think not.

“Besides, the rerun was ordered in 110 out of over 1,135 polling units in the senatorial district.

“Certainly, we are going to test veracity of the tribunal’s verdict at the Court of Appeal. The tribunal has given its judgment, but it is not the end of the road. That is the beauty of the judicial process.”

Kashamu is having a long-running battle with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

In May, operatives of the anti-drug agency laid siege on his house in a bid to extradite him to the United States to face charges for drug-related offences.