Delta Governorship: Tribunal Adjourns Till July 9, Orders Merger Of Preliminary Objections Into Substantive Trial

Source: thewillnigeria.com

BEVERLY HILLS, July 01, (THEWILL) – The Delta State Election Petition Tribunal Tuesday in Asaba, the state capital, adjourned till Thursday, July 9, the commencement of trial in the substantive suits of the petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party (LP), challenging the results of the governorship election in the state.

Tribunal chairman, Justice Justice Nasiru Gunmi, had earlier asked the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to collapse its preliminary objections into the substantive trial in the petition filed by APC and LP.

The petitions were filed by Chief Great Ogboru of LP, Olorogun O’tega Emerhor of APC and Mr. Paul Isamade of Allied Congress Party of Nigeria (ACPN), challenging the governorship election results in the state.

While ruling on the petition, Justice Gunmi, who heads the three-man Tribunal, said by virtue of section 285(6) of the 1999 Constitution, the tribunal is obligated to conclude the hearing of judgment of the petition within 180 days to the filing of the petition, hence the need to collapse the preliminary objection into the substantive suits.

According to him, “it is better for all the issues adjudicated to be looked into, including the issues raised in the objection; any aggrieved party can take issues to the court of Appeal.”

He also added that “the tribunal has resolved that the various preliminary objections filed by the respondents which appears towards the prevention of this petition on merits are to be heard with the petition, hence the preliminary objection should be collapsed into the main trial of the substantive suit.”

Dr. Alex Izyion (SAN), who is the lead counsel for PDP in the case, had last week raised a preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the tribunal to hear the petition. The PDP also prayed the court to conduct a pre-trial hearing to look into fundamental nature of the objection or dismiss the entire petition,saying the petitioners did not follow due process.

But the APC lead counsel, Mr. Thomson Okpoko (SAN), countered this as he argued that the purpose of every tribunal is to do justice and that justice is done when the complaimant is heard on the merit of the complaint. He therefore urged the tribunal to allow the preliminary objections to be taken with the substantive trial.