The All Progressives Congress and Timipre Sylva, their candidate for governor of Bayelsa State in 2023, filed a motion asking the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in Abuja, to remove panel members from the case. The motion was denied by the appelate court on Monday.
The motion follows the denial of a petition calling for the tribunal’s dissolution.
The Independent National Electoral Commission pronounced Douye Diri, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, the winner of the state gubernatorial election in November of last year.
With 175,196 votes, Diri defeated APC candidate Sylva, who received 110,108 votes, and the Labour Party, with 905 votes.
Sylva and the APC petitioned the election petition tribunal after being dissatisfied with the poll results.
The APC and Sylva filed a petition on March 4, 2024, accusing the tribunal of bias and requesting that it be dissolved and a new one formed.
By requiring them to summon their 234 witnesses within seven days, they specifically accused the tribunal of violating their constitutional right to a fair trial as mandated by law.
The tribunal presided over by Justice Adekunle Adeleye postponed sine die (indefinitely) due to the allegations.
The Court of Appeal President did, however, mandate that the tribunal reconvene on Monday.
During the hearing, Sylva’s attorney, Tunde Falola, informed the tribunal that his clients had submitted a new application for dismissal of the panelists.
He claimed that the tribunal’s unorthodox practices had given them the impression that they wouldn’t receive a fair trial.
Falola therefore requested that the tribunal rule on their petition within the brief time remaining before the case’s hearing expires, with the other members being appointed by Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, the President of the Court of Appeal, in the interest of justice.
Chris Uche (SAN), Diri’s attorney, however, disagreed with the application and requested the panel to reject it.
Tayo Oyetibo (SAN), the third respondent’s attorney, characterized the motion as a planned effort to resubmit the petition that the president of the appellate court had already denied.
Oyetibo said, “This application, upon careful perusal, is a calculated attempt by the petitioners to rescue the petition from the legal consequences of a battered and tattered evidence brought forward by them.”
The motion was denied by the three-person panel chaired by Justice Adekunle Adeleye.
According to him, on March 5th the tribunal received an order to continue with the petition hearing by Justice Dongban-Mensem, the President of the Appeal Court, regardless of whether the parties submitted an application or not.
Adeleye continued, stating that the ‘petitioners’ request for the tribunal’s dissolution was superseded by Justice Dongban-Mensem’s letter.
However, the Independent National Electoral Commission the first respondent was given two dates by the tribunal to open and finish its defense March 13 and 14.
