Senate Minority Leader: Court declines to disqualify Akpabio

A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, yesterday, dismissed an ex-parte application that sought to stop the former governor of Akwa Ibom State, Senator Godswill Akpabio from emerging Minority Leader of the 8th Senate. In his ruling, Justice Gabriel Kolawole held that the plaintiffs, Alaye Pedro and Dr. Okechukwu Ibeh, who are members of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, from Rivers and Imo states, lacked the locus-standi to invoke the jurisdiction of the court over the matter.

Meanwhile, the Rivers State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal sitting in Abuja, has fixed Monday to decide whether it has the jurisdiction to hear and determine petitions, challenging Governor Nyesom Wike’s election, outside Rivers State. Justice Kolawole in Akpabio’s case noted that the two plaintiffs were not members of the 8th Senate, a condition he said would have given them the requisite locus to seek the reliefs contained in ex-parte application they filed before the court on Tuesday. Adjourning hearing in the suit till October 5, the judge said he will return the case-file to the Chief Judge of the court, Justice Ibrahim Auta, for it to be reassigned to another judge when the court resumes from its ongoing vacation. The Justice Pindiga-led election tribunal panel in the Wike’s case adjourned for ruling after it heard argument on the preliminary objection by counsel to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, Dr. Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN. INEC is challenging the legality of the tribunal which it said ought to have in line with section 285(2) of the 1999 constitution, as amended, conducted its proceedings in Rivers State instead of Abuja. It insisted that going by the aforementioned section of the constitution under which the tribunal was established, “A tribunal sitting in Abuja cannot qualify as a tribunal established in Rivers State.” INEC also contended that the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, lacked the powers to relocate the tribunal to Abuja when a state of emergency has not been declared in Rivers State. “The reason ascribed to this anomaly is that there was pandemonium, chaos in Rivers State. My lords should take judicial notice that the Court of Appeal is currently sitting in that state, even the Federal High Court too. The seat of government is there and very functional.