Kogi PDP ticket: Judge to deliver judgement ten days to election

The main challenger to the Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) governorship ticket for the November 16 election in Kogi State, Abubakar Ibrahim, has insisted he is the rightful owner of the mandate.

Abubakar Ibrahim made the revelation when the suit to determine the rightful owner of the Governorship ticket of the Kogi State chapter of PDP governorship came up for hearing.

The trial judge insisted that judgment on the matter would be delivered before the election date.

The matter has been adjourned for parties in the suit to continue hearing and defence after several legal fire works from senior legal luminaries that held the court spell bound.

The suit challenging the outcome of the PDP governorship primaries came up for definite hearing at the Lokoja High Court 4 on Friday.

It was presided over by Justice Richard Olorunfemi.

Ibrahim, second runner up in the PDP primaries, is asking the court to declare him the winner of the PDP September 3rd primaries.

According to him, his submissions and documents, tended and marked, accepted as exhibits by the court showed that he is the rightful owner of the PDP ticket, prayed the court to return his mandate.

In their cross examination, counsel to the the 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants, M.S. Ibrahim, J.S. Okutepa and A.N. Makwe drilled the claimant on his various submissions.

Otaru R. Otaru, SAN, counsel to Abubakar Ibrahim, tendered documents submitted by INEC marked as exhibits while that of the Commissioner of Police was received but not marked as exhibit C1 to C14.

In his ruling, Justice Olorunfemi, said time was of essence.

He urged that efforts should be made to fast track the process.

He urged parties to make their addresses on the scheduled date as the court must make its final pronoucement on the matter before the November 16, election date.

He adjourned the matter to Friday November 1.