...'our order still stands'
The Rivers State
Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja on Thursday dismissed
an application seeking to set aside its order allowing the inspection of all
the election materials used for the conduct of the April 11, 2015 governorship
election held in the state.
The Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP) candidate and Governor of Rivers State had on June 17, filed an
application in which he asked the tribunal to set aside it's earlier order of
June 8.
Wike through his lawyer,
Emmanuel Ukala, challenge the territorial jurisdiction of the tribunal to have
made such an order.
In a short ruling on the
motion yesterday, the three man panel led by Justice Justice Muazu Abdulkadir
Pindiga, dismissed the application on the ground that the order was not made
againt Wike, but the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
The tribunal said:
"Our order of 11 June was made against the 1st respondent, INEC, to allow
the petitioner access and obtain a Certified True Copy (CTC) of all documents
and materials used in the conduct of the governorship election in Rivers State,
2015, and we so hold.
"And also in
compliance with Section 151 of the Electoral Act, our order still stands,"
the tribunal declared.
It would be recalled
that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and governorship candidate in the
April 11, 2015 governorship election in the state, Dr. Dakuku Peterside last
Monday accused the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of
disobeying the order by tribunal requesting the electoral body to allow them
inspect election materials used for the election.
At the last sitting,
counsel to the petitioner, Chief Akin Olujimi (SAN) informed the court that
INEC had declined to make the materials available for inspection, in total
disobedience to an earlier order of the Tribunal in that direction.
According to Olujimi,
"an order of inspection was obtained and directed at INEC, which it has
not complained of before the Tribunal, but chose on its own to disobey the
order of2 the Tribunal.
He had said the application
by the counsel representing the 2nd respondents (Gov Nyesom Wike), Emmanuel
Ukala, praying the Tribunal to set aside it's order on the inspection of the
election materials was a calculated attempt by the respondents to delay
proceedings in the petition.
"The application
for setting aside the order was a decision to legalise thje conspiracy between
the 1st and 2nd respondents (INEC and Wike) to frustrate the order of the
Tribunal", Olujimi submitted and urged the Tribunal to ignore the application
for lacking in merit.
Earlier, Ukala, had
prayed the court to set aside the order allowing the inspection of the election
materials on the ground that the Tribunal lacked the jurisdiction to entertain
the petition, adding that Tribunal ought to have addressed the issue of
jurisdiction before exercising any judicial powers in line with Section 6 (6)
of the Constitution.
Other respondents in the
petition adopted the submissions of the learned SAN (Ukala) that the Tribunal
has no jurisdiction to make the order in question and urged the three-member
panel to set it aside.
The Tribunal, after
listening to arguments on the application, adjourned till yesterday, June 9,
2015 for ruling.
The APC in Rivers State
and its candidate in the April 11 governorship election, Peterside Dakuku
dragged INEC, PDP and the governor of the state, Wike before the tribunal to
challenge his victory at the election.
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