10th December, 2010
A legal twist on Tuesday erupted in the suit instituted by some governors under the Peoples Democratic Party to forestall the conduct of gubernatorial elections in their respective states by the Independent National Election Commission as the federal government and the ruling Peoples Democratic Party engaged themselves in war of words in the open court.
The federal government and PDP took opposing positions even though they were both defendants in the case.
In its strong opposition to the bid by the governors to have their tenure elongated to 2012, the Federal Government objected to hearing of the case by the court and pleaded that the case be dismissed for lacking in merit and rapped the party which it accused of “playing the devil’s advocate†in its open support for the consolidated cases of the governors.
Chief Adeniyi Akintola, SAN, who represented the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Bello Adoke, pointedly accused PDP of playing unholy roles the suit.
PDP however fired back at government accusing it of attempting to twist the law and the decision of the Supreme Court on governorship tenure of office.
—Nnamdi Felix / Abuja