The Rivers State Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in
Abuja, has declined to dismiss the petition seeking to sack Governor
Nyesom Wike from office.
In a ruling this afternoon, the Justice Muazu
Pindiga-led tribunal held that the All Progressives Congress, APC, and
its governorship candidate in the state, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, properly
convoked a pre-hearing session on their case against Wike
According to Vanguard, the tribunal said it was not persuaded by contention of both the
Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, and Wike that the
failure of the petitioners to pay a mandatory N100 fee for the
convocation of the pre-hearing session, rendered their substantive
petition liable for dismissal.
INEC had through its lawyer Mr. K.O.C. Njemanze, SAN, sought the
dismissal of the petition as having been abandoned in consequence of non
compliance with the provision of paragraph 18(1) of the First Schedule
to the Electoral Act.
INEC’s motion dated July 27, was filed pursuant to section 6(6) (a)
of the 1999 constitution, as amended, and paragraphs 18(1) (3) and (47)
of the First Schedule to the Electoral Act.
The electoral body insisted that there was no evidence that the
petitioners paid the necessary fees before they applied to the Secretary
of the tribunal to issue them Form TF007, which will okay pre-hearing
on the petition.
Similarly, Wike, through his lawyer Mr. Emmanuel Ukala, SAN, relied
on the case of Ihedioha vs Okorocha and argued that the failure of the
petitioners to properly apply for the pre-hearing session rendered the
case before the tribunal liable to be dismissed.
Wike noted that the Imo State Governorship Elections Petition
Tribunal had in a ruling it delivered on July 22, held that the failure
of Ihedioha to pay the N100 filing fee in respect of an application for
pre-hearing was fatal to his petition against Okorocha. The PDP which is
the 3rd Respondent in the matter also aligned with INEC and Wike in
asking the tribunal to dismiss the petition.
However, in its ruling, the tribunal upheld the argument of counsel
to the petitioners, Chief Akinlolu Olujunmi, SAN, who had urged the
panel not to allow the Respondents to rely on technicalities to defeat
the essence of justice in the electoral dispute.
Besides, the panel stressed that the letter the petitioners served on
the Secretary to the tribunal on June 23, which requested for the
issuance of Form TF007, did not qualify as a filed document as envisaged
by paragraph 37 of the Electoral Act.
“It is clear that there is no imposition of any fee for the
kick-starting of a pre-hearing session and the application for issuance
of pre-hearing form does not involve any filing fee. “Form TF007 and
TF008 are not documents filed as envisaged by paragraph 37 of the First
Schedule to the Electoral Act.
“If a pre-hearing session has began as in the instant case, the way
it was kick-started is no longer of any moment whatsoever. We hold that
there was no defect in the pre-hearing kick-started by the petitioners.
The applications by the Respondents are hereby discountenanced and
dismissed”, the tribunal ruled.
Meantime, the tribunal is currently entertaining arguments from all
the parties on the propriety or otherwise of allowing the petitioners to
inspect all the materials that were used for the April 11 governorship
election in Rivers State, considering that the issue is already pending
before the Appeal Court.
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