Rivers State Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Abuja has adjourned till Monday September 21. The adjournment which followed an application by Mr. Alex Ejesieme, lawyer to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC came as a surprise to many people at the tribunal.
Ejesieme who addressed the tribunal on behalf of the INEC lead lawyer, Onyinyechi Ikpeazu stirred the already expectant observers at the tribunal when he announced Ikpeazu’s absence on health grounds. But the oddity in the junior lawyer’s presentation however became all too apparent because he had earlier told the court that he worked all through the night with his sick boss. For good measure, he added that Ikpeazu was too sick to be at the tribunal.
“On that note, I am constrained, most respectively, to ask that the tribunal adjourns till Monday”, he said.
“ I would have asked for tomorrow, Saturday but we were awake all night. I apologize most respectfully to this honourable court and senior lawyers here for this development.
Responding, Wole Olanikpekun SAN, lead lawyer to the second respondent described the development as an act of God. “My Lord, it is an act of God, no one can control it’, he said, a comment that evoked humour and laughter inside court.
In his reaction, lawyer to the petitioner, Chief Akin Olujimi, SAN said he cannot, under any circumstance, reject such an application.
Rising, the tribunal granted the request but insisted that INEC has only three days left for their defence and that would remain sacrosanct.
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