The President of the the Court of Appeal, Monica Dongban-Mensem, has dismissed Timipre Sylva’s request for the disbandment of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal.
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Mr Sylva, the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate, is challenging the declaration of Governor Duoye Diri of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the winner of the November 2023 Bayelsa State governorship election at the tribunal.
Recently, he with his party, sent a complaint to the President of the Court of Appeal, who oversees the administration of election petition courts in the country, calling for the dissolution of the Bayelsa State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal on the grounds of alleged bias and distortion of records.
The ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources, who once governed the state, alleged in his complaint to Mrs Dongban-Mensem that the three-member tribunal unfairly abridged the time he needed to call his witnesses and distorted the testimonies of witnesses in its records.
The three-member tribunal led by Adekunle Adeleye had, on Monday, adjourned proceedings indefinitely to await the decision of Mrs Dongban-Mensem on Mr Sylva’s complaint.
However, after a consideration of the complaint, Ms Dongban-Mensem asked the tribunal to proceed with its hearing of the election petiion before it.
Following the Court of Appeal president’s decision, the tribunal, on Wednesday, issued a hearing notice slating 11 March for resumption of proceedings.
The hearing notice signed by Secretary of the tribunal was addressed to all the parties to the petition. The parties are Mr Sylva, who is the petitioner; INEC, the electoral body; Mr Diri, who was decared the winner of the election by INEC; Mr Diri’s Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, and their party, the PDP.
Mr Diri is expected to open his defence in the case at the next hearing date, Mr Sylva having closed his case before sending his complaint of bias against the tribunal to the Court of Appeal president.
Mr Sylva with its party, the APC, had alleged that the tribunal, headed by Mr Adeleye, was bias in the conduct of proceedings, findings and decisions.
In a petition to the President of the Court of Appeal, the party and its candidate accused the tribunal of denying them their constitutional right to a fair hearing as required by law.
They claimed that they had lined up 234 witnesses to establish their petition against the declaration of Governor Douye Diri as the winner of the poll.
In the petition dated 4 March and signed by a senior lawyer, Sylvester Elema, they alleged that the tribunal turned the table against them with an order that the 234 witnesses must be called within seven days only.
The lawyer said though they had agreed to call 25 witnesses daily, the tribunal allowed them to call only eight witnesses per day.
He said it was against this backdrop that they had no option but to hurriedly close their case on 27 February after calling only 49 out of their 234 witnesses.
Mr Elema submitted that the action of the tribunal was a clear breach of the rights of the petitioners to a fair hearing by preventing them from calling all their witnesses when the panel still had three months to sit.
He also alleged that in the records of proceedings they obtained, the tribunal made several comments and observations in writing which pointed to the facts that the tribunal had made up its mind to go the way of the respondents.
He claimed that the tribunal distorted the oral testimony of their witnesses in the record of proceedings and had also made findings and decisions in respect of the authenticity and weight of polling unit election results they tendered.
The tribunal was also accused of coming to the wrong conclusions in its findings that “the pattern of writing witness statements on oath employed by the petitioners was same and done by same person.”
He also accused the tribunal of being grossly unfair to them in its written comments that “comparisons done on two exhibits showed the same lettering.”
The senior lawyer, therefore, demanded for immediate dissolution of the tribunal and reconstitution of a new one that would conduct unbiased proceedings in the remaining three-month life span of the petition.
In a separate letter they brought to the tribunal through their counsel R. O. Balogun, the APC and Mr Sylva demanded that the tribunal should adjourn proceedings in the matter indefinitely pending the time the Court of Appeal President would come out with a decision on the petition.
But the lawyers to the respondents in the case had faulted the petitioners allegations against the tribunal.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)’s lawyer, Charles Edosomwan, said that both the APC and Mr Sylva were not fair to the tribunal in their allegations of bias and distortion of facts.
Similar views were expressed by Chris Uche, who appeared for Governor Diri; Chukwuma Machukwu-Ume, counsel to Deputy Governor, Lawrence Ewhrujakpo, and Tayo Oyetibo, who represented the Peoples Democratic Party.
After brief reactions, they agreed that the adjournment be granted as requested by the complainants.
Based on the fresh hearing notice issued for the case, the tribunal will now resume sitting on Monday when the respondents are expected to open their defence.
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