Tribunal dismisses movement to take away panel members

The Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, convened in Abuja, has dismissed a motion filed by the All Progressives Congress and its governorship candidate, Timipre Sylva.

This motion aimed to disqualify certain members of the tribunal who were presiding over the Bayelsa State governorship election dispute.

This is coming after a petition demanding the disbandment of the tribunal failed.

The APC and Sylva, in a petition dated March 4, 2024, accused the tribunal of bias, seeking the disbandment of the panel and the reconstitution of another.

The petitioners accused the tribunal of denying them their constitutional right to a fair hearing as required by law by ordering them to call their 234 witnesses within seven days.

As a result of the allegations, the tribunal, headed by Justice Adekunle Adeleye, adjourned sine die (indefinitely).

However, the Court of Appeal president ordered the tribunal to resume proceedings on Monday.

At the proceedings, the counsel for Sylva, Tunde Falola, told the tribunal that his clients filed a fresh application against the members of the panel.

He noted that the tribunal had exhibited strange circumstances that made them believe that they would be denied a fair hearing.

Falola, therefore, asked the tribunal to, in the interest of justice, step aside from the petition and allow other members to be constituted by the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem.
to determine their petition within the little time remaining for the expiration of the hearing of the case.

Counsel for the governor, Chris Uche (SAN), opposed the application and urged the tribunal to dismiss it.

He said, “The allegation of bias is a very serious one. It is on record that they were granted two additional days.

“They should have moved a motion to seek more days if they had more witnesses. Time is of great consequence. Where petitioners ought to be anxious about the disposal of their petitions, they are now the ones delaying proceedings.

“My lord, we submit that it speaks volumes, shows that the substance of their petition is baseless, and seeks an opportunity to repackage their petition.

“It is on record that they closed their case before filing this application. I urge your lordship to award punitive costs and commit somebody to prison for contempt.”

Counsel for the third respondent, Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), noted that the application was a calculated attempt to re-present their case.

He stated that the right time to make such demands was at the pre-hearing stage.

Oyetibo said, “This application, upon careful perusal, is a calculated attempt by the petitioners to rescue the petition from the legal consequences of the battered and tattered evidence brought forward by them.

“Judicial bias is the ground for this application; at what stage did they realise the bias?

“At the time they opened their case, they knew they were entitled to seven days and we were entitled to two days.

“If they believe there was judicial bias because of the time they were given to prove their case, the appropriate time was before they opened their case. They were given an additional two days. They waited six days after closing their case; they now accused the tribunal of judicial bias after seeing the weakness of their case.”

The three-member panel, led by Justice Adekunle Adeleye, dismissed the motion.

He held that a letter from Dongban-Mensem on March 5 mandated the tribunal to proceed with the hearing of the petition, irrespective of any application by the parties.

Adeleye added that the Dongban-Mensem letter had overtaken the request by the petitioners for the disbandment of the tribunal.

The tribunal, however, fixed March 13 and 14, with the Independent National Electoral Commission being the first respondent, to open and close its defence.

The APC and Sylva are challenging the declaration of the governor, Duoye Diri, as the winner of the state governorship election after polling 175,196 votes to defeat Sylva of the APC, who scored 110,108 votes.

The petitioners are contending that elections were held in some polling units in the three local governments of Southern Ijaw, Ogbia, and Nembe, where INEC and the other respondents claimed there was no election.

They argued that if the results from these local governments were added to their votes, they would win the election.

Diri got his certificate of return four days after being announced as the winner.