TVC E, POLITICS – The Kogi State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal will on Monday commence hearing in the petitions challenging the election of Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as governor of the state.
It was reliably gathered that six petitions were filed before the tribunal now sitting in Abuja following fear of insecurity in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
On Tuesday, tribunal Chairman, Justice Halima Muhammed announced that parties would adopt reports of their pre-hearing sessions beginning from Monday (March 14), following which trial will commence.
The chairman said the tribunal will take the objections to the petition along with the substantive petition.
Parties in the petitions told the Tribunal that they will be calling two witnesses each to prove their cases in the petition challenging Governor Bello’s election.
On February 23, 2016, the Tribunal fixed dates for pre-hearing sessions in the six petitions filed by different parties challenging the outcome of the last governorship election held in the state.
Upon agreements by lawyers in the petitions, including Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), (Alex Iziyon –SAN), (for the Independent National Electoral Commission), Mahmud Magaji (SAN), (for Yahaya Bello), Chris Uche (SAN), (Idris Wada and Peoples Democratic Party), among others agreed to ensure that all the necessary processes were filed before the next dates.
The first petition mentioned was the one by James Faleke against INEC and Bello. Faleke who ran as running mate to the late governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abubakar Audu, is seeking to be declared winner of the election on among other grounds, that his joint ticket with the late Audu won the election.
The second petition was the one filed by Idris Wada (immediate past governor of the state), his deputy, Yomi Awoniyi and their party, the PDP against Bello, APC and INEC.
Pre-hearing session will be held on Wednesday (tomorrow) in the third and fourth by Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) and Labour Party (LP), while those by Usman Zainab and her party, the African Development Party (ADP), and Akwu Umar Goodman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) have been fixed for March 11, 2016.
