Bayelsa governorship election tribunal begins sitting, schedules hearing of Sylva’s petition

An application filed by the candidate of the All Progressives Congress for Baylesa State, Chief Timipre Sylva, seeking to inspect election materials used for the December 5, 2015 and January 9, 2016 governorship election held in the state will be heard on Thursday by the election petition tribunal sitting in Abuja.
Among the 37 materials sought to be inspected are the ballot papers used for the two elections, police security report, video and audio report, appointed observer’s reports and the duplicate copy of the Certificate of Return issued to Governor Henry Serilake Dickson, the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party.
The Chairman of the tribunal, Justice Kazeem Alogba, fixed the hearing of the application for Thursday following the agreement of parties in the matter.
Earlier, other applications challenging the competence of some portions of the petition had been adjourned till April 7, 2016.
One of the applications was filed by the Independent National Electoral Commission.
INEC was represented by Alex Ejezieme.
Meanwhile, there was a crack in the Action Alliance over a petition seeking the nullification of the election of Dickson on the ground of unlawful exclusion.
The crack emerged when the National Legal Adviser of the party, Barrister Anaukyaa Nenge Peter, disassociated the party from the petition and demanded to withdraw it.
Peter’s ground was that the national leadership of the party, through his office, did not authorise the filing of the petition.
He further told the tribunal that the petitioners had no mandate of the party to use the name of the party to file the petition.
However, another faction of the AA, led by Rev. Johnson Alozie, through their counsel, Oba Maduabuchi, insisted that Peter lacks the locus standi to withdraw a petition he did not file.
Maduabuchi told the tribunal that National Legal Adviser of the party takes directive from the national think-tank, being the highest decision organ of the party, and that there was no resolution before the tribunal from the party mandating him to withdraw the petition.
He therefore asked the tribunal to refuse Peter’s application and allow their petition to be determined on its merit.
The tribunal then adjourned till April 6, 2016 to rule on the application.