The Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal for the north eastern Nigerian state of Taraba has warned that it will not tolerate deliberate attempt by litigants to delay timely hearing of petitions filed before it.
The Chairman of the Tribunal, Justice Musa Abubakar handed down the warning at Wednesday’s sitting of the tribunal in Abuja.
The three-member-tribunal was sitting on a petition filed by the APC and its candidate, Sen. Aisha Alhassan in the April 11, governorship elections in the Taraba. The APC and Alhassan are seeking the nullification of the election of Gov. Darius Ishaku of PDP who was declared winner of the election.
Mr Ayo Afam counsel to Ishaku drew the ire of the tribunal chairman when he asked for adjournment of the case at about 12.15 p.m. on the ground that he had exhausted the witnesses he brought for examination.
“My Lord, we will be asking for an adjournment of this case to enable us bring more witnesses who will be travelling down to Abuja from various villages in Taraba,’’ he said.
Irked by the request, Justice Abubakar said that the tribunal will not tolerate any attempt by parties to delay expeditious hearing of the petition. He said he had earlier informed parties that the tribunal will sit from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. everyday to ensure that hearing in the petition is concluded within the statutorily stipulated time.
“We will not tolerate any ploy by parties to delay hearing in this case. You have to sit up and ensure you bring your witnesses to the court rather than calling them in piecemeal,’’ he said.
Afam placated the tribunal stating that they were challenged bringing their witnesses from remote villages in Taraba to Jalingo and to Abuja. He assured that they would not exceed the 10 days statutorily given to a defendant by the Electoral Act to open and close his or her case.
“ We are conscious of the time given to us by law, we are not going to exhaust more than the 10 days given to us,’’ he said.
He recalled that within three days they opened their defence, they had called 24 witnesses to testify.
Mr George Ukaegbu, counsel to PDP aligned with the position of Afam that they would round up the defence within the stipulated time.
“ I appreciate the issues raised by my learned colleague, we are from the same pool, I am aware of the challenges in bringing in our witnesses,’’ he said.
Mr Mahmud Magaji, counsel to Alhassan said although they would not join issues with their colleagues, he, however, stressed the need for the defence team to end their case in time.
Justice Abubakar adjourned the case to Thursday, 10 September for continuation of hearing.
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