Osun state Governorship Election Petition Tribunal will on October 26 begin hearing in respect of the petition filed by Governor Adegboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against the declaration of former Senator Ademola Adeleke as Governor-elect.
This was made known on Thursday after the conclusion of the pre-hearing session .
The tribunal has also been asked to dismiss the applications of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Independent National Electoral commission (INEC), seeking that the consideration of the petition be stopped.
Team@orientactualmags.com learned counsel for Oyetola and the APC, Alhaji Lasun Sanusi, SAN, during the sitting of the tribunal on Thursday argued that Adeleke, PDP and INEC’s reliance on a Federal Court High judgment was nothing but an abuse of court process.
Sanusi was replying to separate applications of the Adeleke, PDP and INEC seeking the dismissal of the petition based on the Federal High Court judgment nullifying Oyetola’s candidacy..
It will be recalled that the governor had since appealed the Federal High Court judgment and also filed an application before the Federal High Court , Abuja, seeking to stay execution of the court judgment pending the final determination of the appeal.
Citing Supreme Court decisions in the case of Jegede Vs INEC, 2021, 14NWLR, Pt 1797, page 409, the counsel said the court had ruled that the signatories to the letter conveying the nomination of a candidate are not the nominators; and rather, the nomination is done by party members at the Congress, hence, the judgment could not stand.
He also cited the case of APM Vs INEC, 2002 NWLR, Pt 18 Page 159, arguing that the application to dismiss the petition on the basis of the judgment was an abuse of court process and an effort in futility.
In their separate arguments; Counsels for INEC, Professor Paul Ananaba, SAN; counsel for Adeleke, Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, and counsel for the PDP, Dr. Alex Izinyon, SAN, all agreed that any decision that the tribunal would take on the matter would have to wait until the Appeal Court and the Supreme Court decide on it.
They said they just decided to argue the applications with a view to having it on record, a position which the tribunal agreed with and put on record.
Also, in other applications totaling nine by the three respondents, they asked the tribunal to strike out some paragraphs of the petition on the grounds that they were either lumped together or not related to the 2022 guber election.
Responding to each of the applications, Sanusi, SAN, said all the cases cited by the respondents were misconceived, saying they were not applicable in the instance case.
He specifically cited the case of INEC Vs Otti, 2016, 8NWLR, where the Supreme Court hinted that INEC was supposed to be neutral, arguing that all the processes filed before the panel had not portrayed the Commission’s neutrality.
He further argued that the applications filed by the respondents were only meant to prevent the tribunal from focusing on hearing the petition on merit, asking the panel to dismiss the applications.
Subsequently, counsel for all parties in the matter agreed to commence hearing starting with the calling of witnesses on October 26, 2022.
In his ruling, the tribunal declared the pre-hearing session concluded and announced that the pre-hearing conference report would be presented on Monday, October 17.- Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980. Thank you
