Tribunal Dismisses Case Against Governor Amaechi

Okafor Ofiebor/Port Harcourt

The reconstituted Rivers State Election Petitions Tribunal in Port Harcourt today dismissed the election petition of Mr Celestine Omehia,the governorship candidate of All Peoples Grand Alliance,APGA,challenging the victory of Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of the Peoples Democratic Party,PDP.

In a judgement delivered by its chairman, Justice Abdullahi Liman, the tribunal said it dismissed Omehia and APGA’s petition because it would amount to gross judicial imprudence if we close our eyes on the Supreme Court judgement on the Borno state case on February 14″.

In the Supreme Court judgement, it was held that hearing of election petition should be within 180 days from the date of filing the petition in line with section 285(6) of the 1999 Constitution the Federal Republic of Nigeria, as amended, as well as the electoral Act of 2010.

The courts have thrown out several poll petitions in recent days based on the judgement. Among the cases affected was the one against the Akwa Ibom governor, Godswill Akpabio by the candidate of the Action Congress. Another notable one was the case filed against Senator Oluremi Tinubu by the Labour candidate, Durosinmi Etti.

P.M.NEWS gathered that the petition also suffered a setback on 15 February following the striking out of of paragraph 10(1 to 25)and 12, which made criminal allegations against individuals and security agencies.

Omehia first filed his petition on 17 May2011.

Counsel to Amaechi, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi described the action of the three-man tribunal as the application of constitutional provisions to the letter, saying that there was no sentiments or emotions attached to the judgement.

Fagbemi said; “What we witnessed this morning is what I will call application of constitutional provisions to the last. There is no sentiments or emotions; either you are within the 180 days or you are not and the constitution said if it is where a retrial has been ordered, the retrial order must be complied with within the trial period of 180 days.

“You will agree with me that this matter was filed on May 17 2011. Today, it is running into 206 days, and that is outside the intention of the relevant provision of the constitution. That was why the tribunal had no difficulty in striking out the petition.”

In his reaction, counsel to Omehia, Mr. James Ezike described the Supreme Court ruling limiting trial of election matters at the tribunal level to only 180 days as draconian, saying that the day was ‘a sad day in the history of the country’.

“It is not right for the Supreme Court to say that this is the provision and it must be that way. The mischief aimed at is not more important than the sociology, the environment, and other provisions of the constitution about fair hearing.

“The Court of Appeal gave a judgement in our favour for the tribunal to retry our case and that judgment should be enforced. It is a sad day in the history of the country, where the highest court in the land could enact such a draconian order. Then, what we should be doing in this country is that if you have a case, you gather the documents, put them in a computer and press and the computer will give you judgement,” Ezike said.