Posted by By Fidelis Soriwei, Benin on
The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdulahi, on Monday, headed a five-man election appeal panel to hear the appeal between Edo State Governor, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor and the Action Congress candidate, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole.
The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umaru Abdulahi, on Monday, headed a five-man election appeal panel to hear the appeal between Edo State Governor, Prof. Oserheimen Osunbor and the Action Congress candidate, Mr. Adams Oshiomhole.
The other justices in the panel involved in the marathon sitting on Monday at the Ikpoba Hill Complex of the Appeal Court in Benin were Justices John Fabiyi, Amina Adamu-Augie, Ayo Salami and Uzor Anyanwu.
The Monday's sitting, which held amidst tight security, started from 10.05am and ended by 5.35pm when Abdulahi and his colleagues rose after definite hearing of four controversial cases.
Among the petitions heard were those filed by the candidate of the Action Congress in Delta State Mr. Peter Okocha against Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan; the candidate of the Democratic Peoples Party, Chief Great Ogboru against Uduaghan, and that of the AC in Ondo State against Governor Olusegun Agagu.
Abdulahi, who noted the lingering delay of the governorship election petitions in the Benin Zone, said he was prepared to ensure immediate resolution of the cases.
Regarding the appeal by Okocha against Uduaghan, the panel decided to consolidate all the cases involving the governorship dispute in Delta State.
The court also applied the same method on the petition filed by the AC and others against Agagu.
It was learnt that the records from the tribunal involving the case between Agagu and the candidate of the Labour Party, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko were not ready.
Our correspondent also noted that only senior lawyers, especially the Senior Advocates of Nigeria were allowed into the courtroom by security operatives.
The situation was such that Osunbor and Okocha were pushed by the crowd in spite of the heavy security personnel attached to the governor the politician.
From the heavy turnout of lawyers in Benin on Monday, it was clear that the matter would affect the Nigerian lawyers' participation at the International Bar Association Conference in Argentina.
Chief Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) led other lawyers including Chief E. Akpofure (SAN), Dr. Alex Iziyon (SAN) and Damien Dodo (SAN) to represent Osunbor at the proceedings.
Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Chief Adeniyi Akintola (SAN) and Prof. Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) led other lawyers to defend Oshiomhole.
But the panel displayed an unprecedented degree of commitment to resolve the case involving Osunbor and Oshiomole by giving a marathon hearing of the cases.
The panelists gave each of the parties involved in the dispute a period of 30 minutes to argue their briefs
Fagbemi and the lawyer to the Independent National Electoral Commission, Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN), argued that the judgment of the lower tribunal was faulty on the grounds that very few INEC witnesses, specifically put at 55, testified in the events that allegedly occurred in the 2,800 polling units in the state which he said was wrong.
But this argument was faulted by Olanikpekun who insisted that the judgment of the lower tribunal was based on documentary evidence presented during the trial and not just the evidence of 55 witnesses.
Olanipekun and the AC lawyer, Mr. Rickey Tarfa (SAN), also argued that calling for a cancellation of the election was a tacit endorsement of the decision of the lower tribunal that the election was characterised by irregularities that culminated in the production of the chart.
Justice Abdullahi consequently adjourned the matter indefinitely, saying that the date of judgment would be communicated to the parties.