Proceedings at
the Delta State election tribunal sitting in Asaba suffered another setback as
attempt by the All Progressive Congress, APC and its gubernatorial candidate
Otega Emerhor to bring in more documents outside their initial plea could not
survive the legal fire power of counsels to the gubernatorial candidate of PDP
Governor Ifeanyi Okowa, the People’s Democratic Party and the Independent
National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The counsels to
Okowa, PDP and INEC in their opposition to the application of APC, Orterga and
Labour party candidate reiterated that the petitioner has no locus standi to
bring in documents that are not included in d petition from the onset when the
petition was filed.
Continuing, the
counsels argued that the petitioner wants to tactically maneuver the tribunal
by bringing in two subpoenas not listed in the main petition, while urging d
court to reject the application of the petitioner.
According to the
counsels who raised preliminary objections through a motion on-notice
challenging the locus standi of APC and Otega to bring in two documents which
were not earlier included in the petition.
Governor Okowa's
counsel Alex Iziyon informed the court that "when a petitioner failed to
attach all papers needed for hearing in d petition,it is not constitutional to
include such midway into the trial and so he urged the tribunal to set aside
the petitioner's plea".
On his part, the
PDP counsel T.A Kehinde SAN noted that " the petitioner is looking for
ways to delay the court from moving forward and dis tribunal must reject such
as it is clearly stated in d law dat all parties are bind by the rules
governing the election tribunal proceedings. It is misleading and must be set
aside by this tribunal."
The counsel to
INEC Dodo D.D SAN stated that "the petitioner's application will lead to
waste of time, because the petitioner has included all the documents he claimed
not have included in d main petition and so according to law no additional
documents should be received from him."
Defending his
application, the petitioner said d court should grant his request by allowing
him bring in more documents.
Having listened
to the arguments of all d counsels, the Chairman of the tribunal Justice Gumi
adjourned ruling on the matter on APC suit to Tuesday 25th, August 2015
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